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24 Hours Nürburgring
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The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a GT and touring car endurance racing event on the Nürburgring, inspired by the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Spa 24 Hours. The venue of this event is held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife (the 22.835km north loop), and is geared towards amateur drivers and primarily production cars. Conversely, the related 1000km Nürburgring is geared towards professional teams and drivers, and is held on the GP Strecke.
Officially called ADAC 24h Rennen Nürburgring in German, it was introduced in 1970 by the ADAC as a low cost alternative to the 1000 km Nürburgring (a sports car racing event that counted towards the World Sportscar Championship from 1953 to 1992).
Typical entries range from standard road cars to European Touring Car Championship vehicles, and sports cars like the Porsche 911.
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Encyclopedia
The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a GT and touring car endurance racing event on the Nürburgring, inspired by the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Spa 24 Hours. The venue of this event is held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife (the 22.835km north loop), and is geared towards amateur drivers and primarily production cars. Conversely, the related 1000km Nürburgring is geared towards professional teams and drivers, and is held on the GP Strecke.
Officially called ADAC 24h Rennen Nürburgring in German, it was introduced in 1970 by the ADAC as a low cost alternative to the 1000 km Nürburgring (a sports car racing event that counted towards the World Sportscar Championship from 1953 to 1992).
Typical entries range from standard road cars to European Touring Car Championship vehicles, and sports cars like the Porsche 911. As interest had dropped in the 1990s when only rather standard FIA Group N cars competed, stronger vehicles were admitted since 1999, like the Zakspeed Chrysler Viper GTS-R which originally was built to FIA GT2-spec, modified Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars from Opel and Abt Sportsline-Audi, and the Schnitzer Motorsport-entered BMW M3 GTR V8 that had been run in the 2001 American Le Mans Series.
Due to various changes and versions of the Grand Prix Strecke, the overall length of the track varied from the original to nearly of the maximum length configuration which was in use in 2002 and 2003, after the GP track had been extended by the Mercedes Arena. A variant is in use since 2005, bypassing the Arena which is used for a parking zone for the competitors of the other races.
For practice, 230 cars are allowed, 220 qualify for the race, driven by 800 or more drivers, as 2, 3 or 4 can share a car. One driver is allowed to drive 150 minutes nonstop, and can enter on two cars, yet a rest time of at least 2 hours has to be observed between two turns.
2006 race
Unlike the two previous races, held on Ascension Day weekend in May in rainy and very cold weather, the 2006 event was run in warm, sunny and dry conditions on Corpus Christi (feast) weekend of June 17-18. Pure factory teams that challenged for the overall win were absent, yet Aston Martin and Maserati had entered factory-backed cars to promote their products, reminding of three overall wins each in the 1000 km Nürburgring decades ago. The Aston Martin car in particular was notable that one of its drivers was Aston CEO Ulrich Bez, and 4th in class and 24th overall.
Due to good conditions and stiff competition by similar cars, a new overall distance record ( in 151 laps) was scored by the Porsche 996 of Manthey Racing that already had been the best privateer team in the previous three years. This team is partially supported by Porsche, though, with factory drivers, a 3.8L engine and a sequential gear box. Second place finishers Jürgen Alzen/Uwe Alzen/Klaus Ludwig/Christian Abt of the Jürgen Alzen Motorsport was only one lap down and have beaten the old record, too. They used a conventional gear box and a privately built 3.8L 500PS engine. The third of three fastest Porsche, the Wolfgang Land Motorsport 911, had suffered a fiery failure of a standard 3.6L Porsche 911 GT3-RSR race engine after 21 hours, yet was classified as 14th with 133 laps.
A remarkable 5th place overall was scored by a BMW 120d, which has roughly half the power of some cars it has beaten. It was driven by Claudia Hürtgen (2005 VLN champion), Marc Hennerici (2005 privateer WTCC champion), Johannes Stuck (son of Hans-Joachim Stuck) and team owner Torsten Schubert.
2007 race
For the 2007 event held on Corpus Christi weekend of June 7-10, more than 260 teams had applied for the 220 race entries. Prior to the start which had been scheduled for 15:00, an approaching thunderstorm made the organizers delay the beginning of the race. Lightning struck the camp of fans, injuring several, while heavy rain made the track muddy. At 16:51, the race was started after two laps behind a safety car. Veteran Klaus Ludwig at the wheel of the Aston Martin DBRS9 which had been given the number 007 took the lead in wet conditions, but hesitating too long with the change to dry tyres, the favorite Manthey team took the lead in their new Porsche 997 GT3-RSR. More weather related drama occurred in the night, when the race was interrupted due to fog for six hours, thus it was an 18h race only.
When the race resumed, the Land Porsche 996 GT3-RSR was slightly damaged when hitting the back of the Manthey car, and the Aston Martin engine failed. Thus the Manthey team could easily defend its 2006 victory. The reliable, yet no more fast enough Zakspeed Dodge Viper GTS-R came in second, with the Alzen brothers Porsche Cayman in 4th and the BMW Z4 M-Coupe 5th.
Remarkable performances were the top ten finishes of a VW Golf 5, an Opel Astra GTC and a BMW 130i, and the 13th place of a Hyundai Coupe V6.
2008 race
For the 2008, over 270 cars were entered, of which only 230 could be accepted. The race began in sunny weather with drama for the favorite Porsche teams of Manthey and Land, losing time with a leaky radiator and a tire failure, and the new Alzen 997 Turbo and the Zakspeed Viper battling for the lead. After the Viper was out, only the BMW Z4 of Claudia Hürtgen, pole setter and winner of the recent VLN race, could challenge the Porsche armada and lead for some laps, but it crashed during the night.
Manthey could catch up and win the race for a third time in a row, with the winning car of 2006 (a 996 model) finishing 2nd. The triumph made the team mechanics cut off Olaf Manthey's famous moustache tips. Sabine Schmitz came in third, also on a Porsche 997. A strong showing among the high powered cars gave the three new Volkswagen Scirocco, finishing 9th and 12th, with veteran Hans Joachim Stuck driving both cars.
Winners
External links
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