Nürburgring 24 Hours Preview - Part 1
The Sp9 Class (GT3) Since 2009 GT3-spec cars have had their own class in the Nürburgring 24 - Sp9 - but since the class has been formed, no car from it has won the big race. This year 28 GT3 machines have been signed up for the biggest race in Germany. Seven Porsches will take the start for the twice around the clock race, six 911 GT3 R and one GT3 Cup S. The lead car of the Porsche fleet is, of course, the green and yellow 911 of Manthey Racing, this year driven by Marc Lieb, Timo Bernhard, Lucas Luhr and Romain Dumas; a quartet that has many times proven to be fast and mistake-free. Manthey-Racing also fields two other Porsche 911 GT3 R; one for the Haribo Team, where Richard Westbrook, Christian Menzel, Hans Guido Riegel und Mike Stursberg will share driving duties; and another for Marc Gindorf, Wolfgang Kohler and Peter Scharmach. Another car with a top notch driver line up is the one of Falken Racing, with Peter Dumbreck, Martin Ragginger, Wolf Henzler and Sebastian Asch. Pinta-Racing is starting with Michael Illbruck, Manuel Lauck, Jörg von Ommen and Altfrid Heger. Frikadelli Racing has Sabine Schmitz, Klaus Abbelen, Tim Bergmeister and Niclas Kentenich as drivers for their GT3 R. The lone Cup S is the one of Jürgen Alzen, driven by the boss himself, with Artur Deutgen, Sascha Bert and ring-legend Klaus Ludwig. The main challenger to the Porsche dominance in Sp9 is the Audi-effort, this year for the first time factory backed. Abt Sportsline will field two Audi R8 LMS for Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider and Marco Werner, and Christopher Mies, Luca Ludwig and Christer Jöns, who share the ‘youngster’ car. Christian Abt is poised to do double-duty in both cars. Fresh off their VLN victory, factory backed Phoenix Racing will also field two Audi R8 LMS. Marc Basseng, Marcel Fässler and a still-to-be-named replacement for Mike Rockenfeller will share the Bilstein R8, while Marc Hennerici, Christopher Haase and Markus Winkelhock drive the second car. Frank Stippler is the one driving both cars. The Audi Race Experience - an arrive-and-drive program by Audi - is also starting with two cars, their lead drivers being Frank Stippler and Florian Gruber. The new kid on the GT3 block is the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3, nine examples of which will take part in the race. The fastest car should be the one of Mamerow Racing, with Chris Mamerow, Armin Hahne and Pierre Kaffer doing the driving; the team should have a good chance of a very good result. Another car with a shot at a top spot is the one of Heico Motorsport for Lance-David Arnold, Alexandros Margaritis, Christopher Brück and Christiaan Frankenhout. Black-Falcon is fielding three SLS in total; one for Kenneth Heyer, Thomas Jäger and Jeroen Bleekemolen; another of the gullwings for Sean Paul and Sean Patrick Breslin, plus Vimal Metha; with the third being for Andrii Lebed, Hannes Plesse and Maik Rosenberg. Rowe Racing is fielding two SLS - Alexander Roloff, Roland Rehfeld, Hubert Haupt and Marco Schelp sharing one, while the other is driven by Michael Zehe, Dominik Schwager, Klaus Rader and Mark Bullitt. Also fielding gullwings are Race & Event and Horn Motorsport, where Stephane Sarrazin is supposed to make his second appearance after an outing in 2005. In total, four BMW Z4 GT3s have been signed up for the race, with Schubert Motorsport fielding three of them. Their lead car is driven by Jörg Viebahn, Marko Hartung, Tom Coronel and Claudia Hürtgen. Hürtgen will do double duties, also sharing a Z4 with Tommy Milner, Edward Sandström and Fredrik Larsson. Stian Sorlie, Anders Buchardt, Nils Tonrud and John Mayes will be in the third car. Chris Goodwin, Arno Klasen and Rudi Adams will share the Dörr Motorsport Z4. The lone wolf in the GT3 field is the Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3, fielded by Reiter Engineering. But the car will be standing out, as it is the vehicle of choice for the three Stucks - Hans Joachim, Johannes and Ferdinand - plus Frank Kechele. This will be Nürburgring legend Hans-Joachim Stuck’s final big race. Sören Herweg | 
