Audi proved to dominate qualifying for this weekend's 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. Marco Werner, piloting the #100 Team ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS set not only the fastest time of the day but also a new track record of 8m 24.753s. Werner's pole-setting lap marks the first time in the history of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring that Audi will start from pole position. In addition to Werner's number one spot, Audi R8 LMS cars fill the next three grid positions, making for a 1, 2, 3 and 4 position start for Audi on Saturday.

Both Audi customer teams ABT Sportline and Phoenix evoked a strategy of waiting for the last two hours of Friday's qualifying to shoot for their fastest times. Following the rain on Thursday, the track was still quite slippery and wet for the start of Friday's qualifying. By the time the ABT and Phoenix drivers started their laps, the track's conditions improved considerably, allowing for a far greater advantage.

Lucas Luhr (ABT Sportsline/8m 27.967s) and Mike Rockenfeller (Phoenix Racing/8m 25.782s) initially used the now considerably superior conditions to set new fastest laps before they were beaten by Marco Werner. Rockenfeller was still able to improve to 8m 25.568s on his last lap, but remained in second position. Pierre Kaffer (Phoenix Racing) rounded out the Audi starting quartet, posting a 8m 29.250s lap.

Commenting on the qualifying of the Audi customer teams was Head of Audi Motorsport, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: "That four of our customer cars occupy the first four grid positions underlines the qualities of the Audi R8 LMS on the world's longest and most demanding race track and is fantastic advertising for our new customer car, which we have developed over the last two-and-a-half years,”

The starting grid at the Nürburgring:

1 Ekström/Jarvis/Scheider/Werner (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 24.753s
2 Basseng/Rockenfeller/Stippler/Stuck (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 25.568s
3 Abt/Collard/Luhr/Mies (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 27.967s
4 Biela/Fässler/Hennerici/Kaffer (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 29.250s
5 Arnold/Menzel/Westbrook/Margaritis (Porsche) 8m 29.521s
6 Mamerow/Henzler/Hardt (Porsche) 8m 29.779s
7 Lieb/Bernhard/Dumas/Tiemann (Porsche) 8m 30.323s
8 Müller/Farfus/Alzen/Lamy (BMW) 8m 32.861s
9 Bergmeister/Lietz/Holzer/Ragginger (Porsche) 8m 34.427s
10 Alzen/Schwager/Jäger/Bert (Porsche) 8m 34.906s
...
12 Bronzel/Ludwig/Rostek/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 37.859s 17 Breslin/Jöns/Heyer/Stuck (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 44.070s 22 Ammermüller/Breslin/Mehta/Wilson (Audi R8 LMS) 8m 47.254s

The 38th running of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring starts Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Sport1 broadcasts 20 hours live. During the formation lap one of the limited edition of 333 Audi R8 GT will lead the starter field.

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