MINI Coupe races at Nurburgring 24 Hour :

Official Release: The new MINI Coupé Endurance has successfully completed two more hours of qualifying in the “Green Hell” – again with impressive results like on the previous day.

In the SP 3T class the MINI with starting number 146 finished twelfth. So Hendrik Vieth, Jürgen Schmarl, Ralf Martin and Anja Wassertheurer will start from 95th overall on Saturday. Because of the changing weather the crew could not improve its 9:44,248 minute mark set on Thursday evening.

The same goes for car number 147 whose drivers Fredrik Lestrup, Nico Bastian and Harald Hennes recorded their best lap on Thursday with a time of 9:44,449 minutes, which puts them13th in the SP 3T class and 97th overall with 201 cars finally starting the race.

The private teams also had a strong qualifying. The fastest MINI John Cooper Works was number 152 entered by Schirra motoring in third place in the SP 3T class (59th overall).

“The prerequisites for our adventures in the ‘Green Hell’ are there,” said Dirk Hollweg, Head of MINI Motorsport. “We proved that the MINI John Cooper Works Coupé Endurance can be fast on the world’s most challenging track. Both cars were set up fine, the team worked very well together. So far we are very satisfied.“

Now the countdown is on for the 39th running of the Eifel long-distance classic. On Saturday at 4 PM CET the call to both MINI John Cooper Works Coupé Endurance cars will be: Start your engines!

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