It was one of the most exciting and dramatic 24-hour races at the Nürburgring, Porsche emerged triumphant in front of 220,000 spectators lining the legendary Nordschleife in the Eifel region of Germany. And with so many manufacturers using the Nürburgring 24-hour race to prove the durability of their machinery, the race is gaining more international recognition every year.
Below you will find reports from Porsche, Audi and Aston Martin on the success of their respective teams at the 39th ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hour race.
It was all smiles at Porsche, where works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany), Timo Bernhard (Germany), Romain Dumas (France) as well as Lucas Luhr (Switzerland) won the 39th running of the long distance event with the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. It fought off strong challenges from BMW, Mercedes and Audi to take overall victory.
For Porsche, and the Porsche Team Manthey, this marked the fifth victory at the race in the last six years – likewise for Timo Bernhard.
And for the Porsche 911, it is the eleventh triumph since the event began in 1970.
With the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, the Porsche quartet snatched the lead on Saturday at 23.25 hours and held it to the flag.
What followed were 16 hours and 35 minutes at the head of the field, 108 consistent laps under immense pressure on one of the toughest race tracks on earth.
A new distance record was set with a total of 156 laps and 3958.968km to underline the superb effort of the winners and their team. “We already knew before the start that we could only win if we worked together as a team, from the drivers through to the mechanics,” said Timo Bernhard.
Indeed, aside from the usual tensions on the track, there was just one truly critical situation. “During a pitstop, the petrol pump didn’t work. Fuel simply didn’t come out. So we had to push the car to another pump and, in doing so, lost almost a minute,” said Lucas Luhr.
The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid also gave an impressive performance, even though its second start at the 24-hour classic did not yield the anticipated top result.
Fielded by Porsche Team Manthey with Porsche works drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria), Marco Holzer (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA), the innovative racecar with its flywheel drive concept finished an impressive 28th, 17 laps behind the winner.
Showing its true potential, the 911 GT3 R Hybrid moved into the lead on Saturday about four hours after the start. But a broken flange in the differential sent it into the pits for repairs, which cost six laps to the leader.
The trouble didn’t stop there. After seven hours, the same problem struck again necessitating a second unplanned pitstop. This time the repairs took 40 minutes.
With a ten-lap gap to the front-runners, the 911 GT3 R Hybrid rejoined the race in 105th. Clocking lap times which were sometimes faster than those at the front, it ploughed through the field to 23rd. However, on Sunday morning the vehicle’s charge was interrupted yet again: While lapping a slower competitor, Patrick Long was nudged and spun at high speed at the Flugplatz but luckily no damage was inflicted.