Lamborghini driver Felix Hirsiger claims his first pole position in the GT Masters

The title battle is already underway in qualifying for the ADAC GT Masters at the Nürburgring. Felix Hirsiger (28/CHE/Liqui Moly Team Engstler Motorsport), currently second in the standings, will start the first race as part of the ADAC Truck Grand Prix from pole position – alongside him will be championship leader Leyton Fourie (20/ZAF/FK Performance Motorsport). During qualifying on Saturday morning, the two battled it out for the fastest times until Hirsiger finally took the lead in his Lamborghini with a time of 1:25.104 minutes, leaving Fourie to settle for second place, 0.249 seconds behind.

“Everything went really well and it was the perfect lap for us. That’s no mean feat here at the Nürburgring with all those kerbs. A big thank you to the team for their great work – the car was superb,” said Hirsiger, delighted with his first pole position in the ADAC GT Masters. Together with his team-mate Finn Zulauf (21/Königstein im Taunus), he intends to approach the race in a relaxed manner and isn’t worried about the battle with championship rival Fourie. “We know we’re all driving fairly and that it’s not about the first corner, but the overall result. Our long-run pace is brilliant; Finn and I are both brilliant drivers – so anything’s possible.”

Fourie himself was surprised by his strong result in qualifying. “To be honest, we hadn’t expected to be so far up the order. The team have done a brilliant job, because the car felt great right from the first lap here,” explained Fourie, who is battling for the championship alongside Tim Zimmermann (29/Langenargen) in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo. In the battle against the Lamborghini, however, he’s keeping his expectations in check. “They still look stronger than us; qualifying showed that. Nevertheless, we’ll obviously give it our all. If we can’t beat them, we want to be the closest challengers.”

Niklas Kalus (21/Duisburg) will start the race from third on the grid. In the Ford Mustang GT3, he was 0.312 seconds off the fastest time at the home race of his Haupt Racing Team from Drees. Rookie Victor Nielsen (19/DNK) caused a surprise by securing fourth place. The Dane normally races for FK Performance Motorsport in the ADAC GT4 Germany and was given the chance at the Nürburgring to compete in his very first race weekend in a GT3 car. On his fastest lap in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo, he was 0.327 seconds behind pole-setter Hirsiger. Emil Gjerdrum (1/NOR/Haupt Racing Team) rounded off the top five in the second Ford Mustang GT3, 0.4 seconds behind.

The first race of the weekend starts at 1.45 pm and can be watched live on Joyn, ServusTV On and YouTube.com/ADACMotorsports.