Nürburgring 24 Hours – Notes 2
Tripping The Dark Fantastic

A pitstop at the Ring 24 is a fascinating spectacle. Rather than the organised and almost choreographed routine seen at Le Mans – where you have the tyres laid out for several minutes in advance by team members donning matching fireproof overalls – the first indication that a stop is imminent at the Ring 24 is when you trip over a stop board while pushing your way through the crowd.

Then you notice the stack of tyres – blankets still covering them – and the chap holding the air gun; and perhaps there’ll also be a driver waiting to take over. But with such a busy pitlane, the team is usually to be found gathered near the petrol pump adjacent to their garage; and only when the car is entering the pitlane does the area become fully animated – the shouts begin, people are quickly ushered or hollered out of the way and the warmers come off the blanket. Headlights appear and the car roars into the space hopefully by now fully cleared of humanity. The crew then piles on top of the car to fuel, change tyres and driver, clean the screen and attend to any other urgent checks.

Then, when all is done, the car fires, a team-member clears another path and the car roars away – the space by now already filled by numerous feet.

As the halfway point approaches, Sören Herweg reports that several drivers have expressed concern about the condition of the track. Numerous collisions, accidents and failures have resulted in fluid and debris in many places. There are also reports of the Armco at Karussell being welded, which suggests someone had a very sudden stop at that point of the track.

The class leaders after 11 hours were as follows:

SP7 - 1st - #18 - Manthey Racing - Porsche 911 GT3 RSR

SP9 - 2nd - #32 - Heico Motorsport - Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3

E1-XP2 - 6th - #1 - BMW Motorsport - BMW M3 GT

SP4T - 18th - #125 - Raeder Motorsport - Audi TT RS

SP8 - 19th - #2 - Hankook Team Farnbacher - Ferrari 458 Italia GT

SP8T - 24th - #71 - Nissan GT-R

SP3T - 25th - #155 - Subaru Tecnica International - Subaru Impreza WRX

SP10 - 26th - #62 - Team Mathol Racing e.V. - Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT4

AT - 30th - #117 - Volkswagen Motorsport - Volkswagen Scirocco GT24-CNG

SP5 - 32nd - #80 - Live-Strip.com Racing - BMW 330i

V5 - 45th - #234 - Team DMV - BMW Z4 3.0 Si

E1-XP - 48th - #9 - Porsche Team Manthey - Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid

SP3 - 51st - #170 - Team ATS Motorsport - Honda S2000

V6 - 52nd - #241 - BMW Z4 M Coupe

D1T - 59th - #200 - Team Peugeot RCZ Nokia - Peugeot RCZ HDi

D3T - 78th - #195 - Dörr Motorsport - BMW 135d

V4 - 81st - #218 - Team AutoArenA Motorsport - Mercedes-Benz C230

SP6 - 92nd - #93 - BMW M3 E46

SP4 - 101st - #131 - Bergischer Motor Club - BMW 325i E92

V3 - 103rd - #213 - MSC Ruhr-Blitz Bochum - Honda Civic Type-R

N2 - 105th - #248 - Honda Civic Type-R

V2 - 118th - #204 - BMW 318 is E36

Aside from some light drizzle around three o’clock on Sunday morning, we had enjoyed a reasonably pleasant night. Saturday ended with warm temperatures, while Sunday dawned overcast but fog-free. The light did, however, make the battle scars a lot more visible:

The two Aston Martin V12 Zagatos had been in the wars, with both enduring long stops for major repairs. Both were, however, expected to return later in the race.

With 14 hours gone, The #18 Porsche had a lead of a lap over the #32 SLS. The delayed Hankook Ferrari, meanwhile, was up to 14th as it fought back from its earlier problems.

MH