QUALIFYING UPDATE: Team WRT penalised, ROWE Racing takes Nürburgring pole

The #98 ROWE Racing BMW will start this afternoon's GT World Challenge race at the Nürburgring from pole after the #32 Team WRT BMW recieved a five-place grid penalty. This gives Raffaele Marciello his sixth Endurance Cup pole, while Augusto Farfus and Jesse Krohn are first-time pole-winners.

The stewards agreed that the #32 – driven at the time by Charles Weerts – was at fault in the Q2 incident that sent Jules Gounon's #17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG into the barriers.

As such the #98 BMW starts ahead of the #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari, the #58 Garage 59 McLaren, the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin and the #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche. Team WRT occupies sixth, directly ahead of its closest title rivals: the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter and the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche. 

Garage 59 secured P1 in the Gold Cup with its #58 McLaren. Louis Prette, Adam Smalley and Dean MacDonald combined to secure a fantastic third overall and a third class pole of the season. They have a five-place advantage over the #777 AlManar Racing by WRT BMW, which will start ninth. The championship-leading #33 Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin struggled in Q3 and has ground to make up from 19th on the grid.  

Silver Cup pole also went to Garage 59 with its #188 McLaren. Guilherme Oliveira, Tom Fleming and the returning James Baldwin will start from 11th overall, followed by the #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG (P14) and the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin (P16).

Kessel Racing took another step towards securing the Bronze Cup title by taking class pole with its #74 Ferrari. Dustin Blattner, Dennis Marschall and Conrad Laursen qualified 23rd overall, though this was just one place ahead of the rival #991 Paradine Competition BMW. A win this afternoon would give the Swiss squad the title with a round to spare.

Results are HERE