Phoenix Racing has got their defence of the Nürburgring 24 hour off to a good start by putting one of their cars on pole position for tonight’s race. The #4 entry driven by Michael Ammermüller, Frank Stippler, Ferdinand Stuck, Johannes Stuck set a best time of 8:17.212 to claim P1. They will start alongside the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT driven by Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke, Allan Simonsen, Pedro Lamy.

It’s worth noting that last year’s winner, the #3 Phoenix Racing Audi, started from P12 with a lap time over four seconds off the pole position time.

During the race the top 40 cars will carry flashing blue lights to indicate there’s a faster car coming through. With an starting list of 168 cars there’s still a lot of drivers who’ll be watching out for them!

The best placed Australian driver is Paul Stubber in the #27 De Lorenzi Racing Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S who will start from P34. The list below shows the starting order for all Aussie and Kiwi drivers (those marked with asterisk are from NZ).

• P34 – #27 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S (Paul Stubber)
• P52 – #89 BMW Z4 Coupé (Rob Thomson)
• P56 – #72 Aston Martin Vantage V8 (Ric Shaw)
• P60 – #42 Porsche 997 (Clint Harvey, Brett Niall, Malcolm Niall, Mark Pilatti)
• P75 – #6 Aston Martin Vantage V8 (Mal Rose, Peter Leemhuis)
• P85 – #177 BMW E36 (Angus Chapel, Garth Duffy)
• P91 – #102 Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 (Gregory Spark*)
• P142 – #153 Seat Leon TDI (Martin Bailey)
• P145 – #90 BMW E36 M3 (Tony Alford, Kean Booker, Richard Gartner, Peter O’Donnell*)
• P157 – #190 BMW E36 M3 (Michael Eden*, Wayne Moore*, Maurice O’Reilly*)
• P158 – #144 Renault Clio Cup (Christopher Gleeson)

You can download the full starting order HERE (158kb PDF) and the Top 40 qualifiers can be seen below.

2013 Nürburgring 24 hour race qualifying – Top 40

Pos	No	Team	Car	Time
1	4	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	8:17.212
2	7	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin Vantage GT	8:18.362
3	2	Team Mamerow	Audi R8 LMS ultra	8:19.073
4	50	Manthey Racing	Porsche 911 GT3 R	8:19.838
5	1	G-Drive Racing by Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS ultra	8:20.025
6	9	Black Falcon	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	8:20.320
7	25	BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS	BMW Z4 GT3	8:21.007
8	20	BMW Team Schubert	BMW Z4 GT3	8:21.036
9	10	Black Falcon	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	8:21.373
10	29	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS ultra	8:22.055
11	26	BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS	BMW Z4 GT3	8:22.258
12	22	ROWE Racing	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	8:22.269
13	11	–	Porsche 997 GT3 R	8:22.586
14	23	ROWE Racing	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	8:22.842
15	19	BMW Team Schubert	BMW Z4 GT3	8:22.889
16	45	Timbuli Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 R	8:23.035
17	63	Black Falcon	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	8:23.760
18	3	G-Drive Racing by Phoenix	Audi R8 LMS ultra	8:23.975
19	18	Manthey Racing	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	8:23.990
20	8	Haribo Racing Team	Porsche 911 GT3 R	8:24.586
21	21	ROWE Racing	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	8:25.247
22	44	Falken Motorsports	Porsche 997 GT3 R	8:25.497
23	12	Wochenspiegel Team Manthey	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	8:26.173
24	14	Audi race experience	Audi R8 LMS ultra	8:27.257
25	40	Pinta Team Manthey	Porsche 911 GT3 R	8:27.341
26	123	Schulze Motorsport	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3	8:27.467
27	16	–	Audi R8 LMS	8:31.788
28	17	Farnbacher Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 R	8:32.144
29	15	Audi race experience	Audi R8 LMS ultra	8:35.327
30	79	Gazoo Racing	Lexus LFA	8:36.398
31	76	GT Corse	Ferrari F 458	8:36.694
32	125	Rowe Racing	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	8:38.427
33	36	Kremer Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 KR	8:43.559
34	27	De Lorenzi Racing	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S	8:43.694
35	88	Haribo Racing Team	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	8:44.316
36	24	Walkenhorst-Motorsport	BMW Z4 GT3	8:45.114
37	55	Black Falcon Team TMD Friction	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	8:52.037
38	28	Manthey Racing	Porsche 911 GT3 R	9:14.305
39	69	Dörr Motorsport	McLaren MP4-12C GT3	–
40	77	Raceunion Teichmann Racing	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup	8:48.222