With 57 GT3 cars on a very busy grid, the weekend would largely be determined by qualifying, in particular the third session when the track is at its best. However, after positive sessions for team-mates Hubert Haupt and Andreas Simonsen, Christodoulou was left frustrated when he got in for Q3, as continual traffic left the no. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 mired in 19th place.
Adam Christodoulou collected fifth place in the Nürburgring 24 Hours Qualifying Race as AMG-Team Black Falcon continued to build towards the 24 Hours on May 28-29.
Sharing with regular VLN team-mates Maro Engel, Bernd Schneider and Manuel Metzger, the 26-year-old Briton came home fifth out of 22 SP9 entries in the 6 hour prelude, as the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 swept first and second positions.
Adam Christodoulou marked his first race as an official AMG Driver with a podium in the first VLN meeting of the year.
The event drew a healthy field of 174 competitors with 30 SP9 GT3 entries, and was the first held since speed restrictions on the Döttinger Höhe were lifted and the crest at Flugplatz re-profiled. However, unseasonal snow in the Eiffel Mountains and several lengthy red flag periods meant the 26-year-old Briton completed very little pre-event testing in his new AMG-Team Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3, putting him on the back foot ahead of qualifying.
Even with the combined experience of team-mates Bernd Schneider, Maro Engel and Manuel Metzger, deciding on the optimal setup would prove a dilemma, so a laptime of 8:10.88s – enough for eighth on the grid and seventh in class – constituted a good result under the circumstances.
