The 24 Hours of Nürburgring has one of the most complex qualifying formats in motorsport. With 161 cars simultaneously sharing the German circuit, the organization uses several sessions spread between Thursday and Friday to define the grid for the traditional endurance race.
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Activities start on Thursday with qualifying sessions 1 and 2. Besides beginning the formation of the grid, these sessions allow drivers and teams to adapt to the Nordschleife in day and night conditions before the official race start.
The traditional qualifying sessions will determine grid positions between P50 and P161. Cars in these categories will not be able to advance to the Top Qualifying sessions, which decide the first positions on the grid. For teams in the main classes, such as SP9, SP-PRO, SP-X, and AT1, Thursday mainly serves as preparation for the decisive Friday.
On Friday, the fight for the overall pole position of the race takes place. In total, 49 cars from the main categories will participate in the Top Qualifying format, while five teams have already secured direct spots in the final session thanks to results previously obtained in the NLS Qualifiers.
The system works in an elimination format. TQ1 will last 35 minutes and will qualify only the 20 fastest for TQ2. After that, only seven teams will advance to the decisive TQ3. The final pole session will feature twelve cars: the seven qualified from TQ2 plus the five previously guaranteed via NLS Qualifiers.
The schedule starts on Thursday with activities between 1:15 PM and 3:15 PM, plus a night session from 8:00 PM to 11:30 PM local time. On Friday, TQ1 will be held from 8:50 AM to 9:25 AM, followed by TQ2 between 9:45 AM and 10:20 AM. Q3 takes place from 10:35 AM to 11:50 AM, while TQ3 closes the day between 1:35 PM and 2:35 PM.
On Saturday, the warm-up will be held from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Starting procedures begin at 12:45 PM, with the formation lap scheduled for 2:40 PM and the official start at 3:00 PM. The final flag will fall on Sunday, also at 3:00 PM local time.
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