BMW works driver Augusto Farfus set the fastest time in the first qualifying session for the 2017 Nurburgring 24 Hours, claiming provisional pole for the #43 Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M6 GT3.

With a final effort of 8m22.307s, DTM regular Farfus managed to beat the #38 Abt Sportsline Bentley Continental GT3 of Christian Mamerow by 0.948s.

However, with another qualifying session and the top-30 shootout to follow on Friday, Farfus remains realistic about what has been achieved in Thursday's first qualifying session.

"It doesn't count for much, really. We managed provisional pole-position with our #43 car which is okay for the moment. However, we need to make sure to get the car into the top 30 qualifying shootout in order to be able to fight for pole-position," Farfus said.

The Brazilian is scheduled to drive both the #43 and the sister #42 Schnitzer car, which was classified in third, 1.5s down on the overall pace-setting M6.

Kelvin van der Linde was fourth-fastest in the #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS, while Daniel Keilwitz made it four different marques in the top five in the #22 WTM Racing Ferrari 488 GT3.

Reigning champion squad Black Falcon Racing was sixth, with Manuel Metzger ending up 2.762s off the pace in the #1 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Times are expected to drop dramatically during Friday's second qualifying session which will take place in the morning and on a much cleaner track.

During the first qualifying session, drivers repeatedly complained about dirt on the racing line, traffic and people still trying to find their way around the treacherous Nordschleife.

Top 10 qualifying results:

Pos	#	Drivers	Car	Time	Gap
1	43	Antonio Felix da Costa Augusto Farfus Timo Scheider Alex Lynn	BMW M6 GT3	8'22.307
2	38	Jordan Pepper Christer Jöns Christian Mamerow	Bentley Continental GT3	8'23.255	0.948
3	42	Augusto Farfus Marco Wittmann Tom Blomqvist Martin Tomczyk	BMW M6 GT3	8'23.872	1.565
4	29	Markus Winkelhock Connor de Phillippi Christopher Mies Kelvin van der Linde	Audi R8 LMS	8'24.601	2.294
5	22	Jochen Krumbach Daniel Keilwitz Georg Weiss Oliver Kainz	Ferrari 488 GT3	8'24.737	2.430
6	1	Maro Engel Adam Christodoulou Yelmer Buurman Manuel Metzger	Mercedes-AMG GT3	8'25.069	2.762
7	99	Maxime Martin Marc Basseng Philipp Eng Alexander Sims	BMW M6 GT3	8'25.128	2.821
8	12	Robert Renauer Matteo Cairoli Otto Klohs Mathieu Jaminet	Porsche 911 GT3 R	8'25.131	2.824
9	5	Mike Rockenfeller Frank Stippler Nicolaj Madsen Dennis Busch	Audi R8 LMS	8'25.566	3.259
10	911	Romain Dumas Richard Lietz Patrick Pilet Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 911 GT3 R	8'26.234	3.927