Qualifying for tomorrow’s 6 hours of Nürburgring race was run on a dry, cool track under cloudy skies. After Le Mans, The WEC now reverts to the normal format of a 20 minute qualifying session with an average time of two drivers forming the grid.

Vitaly Petrov and Roberto Merhi, returning to the team to stand in for Jean Eric Vergne for one race, set the first times before handing over to the teams two “silver” drivers, Roberto Gonzalez and Tor Graves.

Graeme Lowdon, President and Sporting Director

“The team have done a great job as always. Unfortunately we lost track time yesterday with an engine issue on #24 which meant that Roberto Merhi did not get much time to get used to the car. On the other side of the garage it’s encouraging to see the ongoing improvements from Roberto. With only a few tenths separating four or five cars we are well placed to fight for a good position, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”

Vitaly Petrov, Driver Car 25

“I think we have the same speed that we showed at Le Mans even if our position doesn’t show that - the times are very close. The team continues to do a great job and the car is good. I’m happy with the performance but we still need to find a little bit extra in every area and we will work on that. At least it’s clear we are among the top teams and we need to keep improving at each race. Qualifying is now done and we will focus on strategy for tomorrow’s race; we know we have the pace to fight for positions.”

Roberto Gonzalez, Driver Car 25

“It was a good session today, on a difficult track. The car has had a good balance all weekend, as it was at Le Mans. It’s a shame the start position doesn’t reflect this, we could have done better. As usual with a long race the aim is to stay out of trouble and see if we can end up with a good result.”

Roberto Merhi, Driver Car 24

“It’s good to be back in the car after a break of nearly a year and it was always going to be difficult to be back on the pace straight away. Tomorrow will be difficult but hopefully with extra track time the speed will come.”

Tor Graves, Driver Car 24

“I didn’t feel quite as comfortable with the brakes today as I did yesterday so we will need to look at that. So I think we could have been a bit faster and we will work towards achieving that tomorrow.”

Ends