Another enduring festival at one of the most gruelling European tracks is in the books. Team Audi Sport Land (No. 29) crossed the line first, taking the 2017 Nürburgring 24 Hours crown home after 158 laps and one of the most tense motorsports conclusions ever.
Right from the very first lap the Audi squad demonstrated it had no intentions of letting rivals grab the podium. The five manufacturer-supported R8s kept on pressuring the pole leader Glickenhaus 003C (No. 704), which ran in the experimental SP-X class. The opposition from BMW and Mercedes-Benz was also severe, but Audi kept resisting effectively.
After 40 laps of running in close vicinity, the No. 29 R8 took the leading position and led the pack into the night. The No. 9 sister car from Team Audi Sport WRT would trail by roughly a minute. Meanwhile, the BMW M6 GT3 (No. 98) from ROWE Racing would claim third position two minutes down on the leader.
A major turn of events started occurring approximately 90 minutes before the race finish. The No. 29 car’s sensor malfunctioned as it was going out from a pit zone. The driver had no other choice but to return to the pits after completing a lap around the GP segment of the full course. All the advantage the team had had by that moment melted in favor of No. 9.
But the excitement among the crowd really increased when clouds sprinkled the track half an hour prior to the race’s conclusion. As the race had enjoyed nothing but clear weather up to this point, this sudden turn of events spiced up the race a lot.
To further increase the tension, the rain was only mild, so it became hard to deduce whether the drivers should keep running on slicks or risk making a pit stop and switching to treaded ones for the very last fragment of the race.
Undeterred, the Land car made a pit stop roughly 10 minutes after the forecast change and switched to treaded tires at the very last moment. This proved a crucial decision, as the surface became so soaked afterwards all other slick-shod cars slowed significantly. The No. 9 Audi was one of them as well. By the time it managed to reach the pit zone after steady driving, No. 29 was close enough to pass by and regain the lead once again.
As if the rain wasn’t enough, ROWE Racing also decided to turn the tables on the No. 9 Audi. At the Metzgesfeld corner on the final lap Nicky Catsburg in the BMW M6 GT3 passed Rene Rast for second, concluding this year’s happenings at the Nurburgring 24 hours event.
After a dominant first-through-fourth lockout last year, the Mercedes teams failed to land on the podium at this year’s race. The highest position achieved by the AMG GT was fifth, in the hands of defending champ Black Falcon.
Perhaps the most peculiar entries this year — the two prototype-shaped Glickenhaus 003Cs guided by Traum Motorsport — achieved fairly respectable results. The No. 702 car finished the race 1st in the SP-X class and 20th overall. Unfortunately, the same good fortune did not smile on its sister car (No. 704). In spite of conquering the qualifying session with a rapid run of 8:15.427, it faced a collision in the first hours of the race and eventually settled at 6th position in-class and 71st overall.
Volkswagen also proved it was a force to be reckoned with. Rolling down in the TCR class, Mathilda Racing campaigned in a Golf GTI (No. 175). The team started off way back in 59th place, but would later improve by jaw-dropping 29 positions! The car finished the race 1st in TCR and 30th overall.
Speaking of sharp grid improvements, the afore-mentioned BMW M6 GT3 from ROWE Racing (No. 98) moved from a starting 24th position to finishing 2nd, undoubtedly a feat worth celebrating.
This year neither GT Academy graduates nor Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi took part in the event. Of the more familiar names, we spotted venerable Nürburgring tour guide Sabine Schmitz. Alongside Frikadelli Racing team, Sabine has been traditionally taking part in the N24 event for a number of years. This time Sabine helped bring the Porsche 991 GT3 R (No. 30) to 16th place in the SP9 class and 17th overall.
Photography by Kevin Mc Glone of Red Square Images.
