Highlights from the 40th running of the Nurburgring 24 Hours last year ahead of this weekend’s event, a race that could see another record tumble.
Competitors and fans came into last year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours knowing the event was on a roll. Four years earlier in 2008, Marc Lieb, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Marcel Tiemann had amazingly come from one lap down to secure victory in the Manthey Racing-entered Porsche 997 GT3 RSR…by two whole laps. The following year the event saw a run of new records set, the 2008 winners repeating their result and setting a new distance record of 155 laps en-route. Tiemann meanwhile became the first driver to win the Nurburgring 24 Hours five times (following wins in ‘03 and ’06-’09), with Pedro Lamy equalling the record the following year (’01-’05 and ‘10) thanks to victory alongside Jörg Müller, Augusto Farfus and Uwe Alzen in the Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M3 GT2. Manthey Racing meanwhile became the first team to take four outright wins on the bounce in 2009.
In 2011, once again the distance record fell – 156 laps – with Bernhard, thanks to his win with Lieb, Dumas and new teammate Lucas Luhr, aboard the Manthey Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR became the latest man to win on the Green Hell for a fifth time. Last year though, incredible as it may seem, saw endurance specialists Audi take its first victory at the Nurburgring 24 Hours in the event’s 40–year history. Marc Basseng, Christopher Haase, Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock in the Audi Sport Team Phoenix R8 LMS Ultra even headed an four-ring one-two ahead of the Mamerow Racing R8 of Christian Mamerow, Michael Ammemüller, Christian Abt and Armin Hahne.
This weekend the Nurburgring 24 Hours kicks off for the 41st time, and with Lamy back for a crack at the sixth victory – and Audi, Porsche and Mercedes looking to send another distance record tumbling – the roll at the Nurburgring is far from over.
Source – DerNueburgring
