[ADAC] 24 hours Nürburgring 2024

[erwin greven]

Scherer Sport PHX Wins Shortest-Ever, Red-Flagged N24

Race not restarted after safety car laps; Scherer Sport PHX declared winners…



Frank Stippler, Christopher Mies, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall have been declared the winner of the 52nd Nürburgring 24, which is the shortest-ever edition of the Eifel endurance classic after it was red-flagged, restarted and then stopped prematurely due to fog.

The No. 16 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II was in the lead of the race when a red flag was called Saturday at 11:23 p.m. local time as a thick cloud of fog descended over the Nürburgring.

That red flag held for 14 hours, with the field resuming behind the safety car for five formation laps on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

Race control stipulated that these five formation laps would determine whether or not the race would be able to fully resumed, but with the fog still a factor, the race was declared after 50 laps were completed.

As a result, Audi secured its seventh N24 victory, returning to the top step after last winning the race in 2022.

Manthey EMA finished second with its No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Kevin Estre, Thomas Preining, Laurens Vanthoor and Ayhancan Guven

The ‘Grello’ Porsche was in third place when the red flag was called, but was promoted to second place for the restart as the No. 72 BMW M4 GT3 had taken one less pitstop prior to the stoppage.

Under the N24’s supplementary regulations, the accumulated minimum pitstop times are included in the result of the red flag, which results in Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Charles Weerts being dropped to third place behind the Porsche, where it finished.

The No. 72 car started the race from pole position, then dropped back as it came to pit prior to the green flag to switch from slicks to wet tires.

Harper subsequently charged back up the order to bring the car back into contention, which allowed it to become BMW’s leading contender when ROWE Racing’s Sheldon van der Linde was eliminated from the lead in a multi-car crash at Fuchsrohe in the fourth hour.

That promoted the No. 16 Audi to the lead of the race, although multiple cars were in contention as the return of rain split tire strategies as Saturday evening fell.

Mies put the Scherer Sport PHX crew on the path to victory by passing both Harper’s No. 72 BMW and the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Arjun Maini in a double overtake at Aremberg.

A battle between Mies and Harper then ensued as the BMW driver recaptured the lead with a move at Klostertal, only for Mies to return the favour on the Dottinger Hohe not long before the red flag.

The No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein machine of Luca Stolz, Maximilian Goetz, Daniel Juncadella and Arjun Maini finished fourth, while Red Bull Team ABT completed the overall top five with its No. 27 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 for Kelvin van der Linde, Marco Mapelli and Jordan Pepper.

A series of pitstops under the safety car shook up the order in the rest of the top ten, with the No. 1 Frikadelli Racing Team Ferrari 296 GT3 pitting from sixth, while the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG, No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW and No. 44 Falken Motorsport Porsche all also came in.

As a result, the No. 33 Falken Porsche finished in sixth ahead of the No. 54 Dinamic Porsche and the No. 98 ROWE BMW.

The No. 15 Scherer Sport PHX Audi came home in ninth, while the No. 24 Lionspeed GP Porsche in the hands of Antares Au, Patric Niederhauser, Patrick Kolb and Indy Dontje picked up the SP9 Pro-Am class victory in tenth overall.

Notably, Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed saw both of its cars retire after a troublesome race with multiple incidents.

The No. 8 car of Lucas Auer, Adam Christodoulou, Philip Ellis and Mikael Grenier fell first when Christodoulou inflicted front-end damage in an overnight incident.

The No. 130 machine, meanwhile, had its competitive run curtailed in a coming together with the No. 15 Scherer Sport PHX Audi and the No. 5 Herberth Motorsport Porsche.

While Herberth driver Kolb came worse off, spinning into the barriers at Antoniusbuche and suffering damage, the Mercedes-AMG came away from the incident with a puncture.

It later spent time overnight in the garage for repairs before Jules Gounon pulled the car into the garage during the five laps behind the safety car on Sunday afternoon.

In the classes, Black Falcon came out on top in Cup2 with its No. 103 Porsche 922 GT3 Cup of Mustafa Mehment Kaya, Gabriele Piana, Tim Scheerbarth and Mike Stursberg.

Maxime Oosten, Nick Wuenstenhagen, Nick Hancke and Lorenz Philipp Stegmann won the SP10 class with their No. 188 FK Performance Motorsport BMW M4 GT4.

https://sportscar365.com/other-series/n ... agged-n24/

[erwin greven]

ROWE Files Appeal After Rejected N24 Outcome Protest

ROWE Racing to file appeal in the wake of Nürburgring 24 after initial protest about race ending procedure was rejected…



ROWE Racing has filed an appeal after an initial post-race protest about the ending of the Nürburgring 24 was rejected by the stewards.

Team principal Hans-Peter Naundorf confirmed to reporters at the Nürburgring that the team will seek to have a ruling by the stewards overturned after the team initially filed a protest directly after the conclusion of the race.

Scherer Sport PHX’s No. 16 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II was declared the winner of the shortest-ever edition of the Eifel endurance classic, which was interrupted by a lengthy red flag due to fog.

At 1:30 p.m CEST (7:30 a.m. EDT), cars rejoined the track for five exploratory laps behind the safety car, after which race control opted to display the checkered flag and declare Frank Stippler, Christopher Mies, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall the winners.

Naundorf explained that the protest was with regards to the way race control managed the end of the race, arguing that the rules were not properly applied to the situation.

A stewards’ decision document published by the ADAC outlines that ROWE argued that the race was interrupted, not finished when the checkered flag was shown 55 minutes prior to the intended end time.

“We say the race director didn’t, let’s say, finish the race, according to the regulations,” Naundorf said.

“He applied his own rules, which are outside of the regulation. We just want to say and want to have him applying the regulations, that’s what we all want.

“We want to stay within the regulations. That’s why they exist. And there’s so much detail things of what it means ending a race, interrupting a race, red-flagging a race, checkered-flagging a race.

“It’s a detailed thing. But still, we all are competitors, and all organizers, we all want to stay in [the] regulations. That’s why they are there.

“There’s the ruling from the ADAC, there’s a ruling and the texts from the DMSB and from the international sports.

“All these three, have not been applied properly. And that’s what we say. We teams want to have the security and the knowledge that a race, for example, ends under the conditions and under the regulations, which is written there.”

In addition to filing the appeal in order to seek clarification of the regulations, Naundorf also acknowledged that had the race been red-flagged rather than ended after the five-lap safety car period, the application of Article 35.3 of the N24 supplementary regulations would have likely resulted in victory for the No. 98 car.

This is because Article 35.3 states that “the minimum pit stop times applicable at the time of the classification (including any time penalties and stop-and-go time penalty) will subsequently be added to the vehicles’ total driving time in the form of a time penalty.”

As the No. 98 ROWE BMW was one of a number of cars that came into the pits during the five-lap safety car period the application of time penalties for cars that did not pit would have seen it vault up the order in the classification at the time of the red flag.

“Exactly, this is why we see it this way,” Naundorf said.

“We say: why not apply the same regulations you applied yesterday, shortly before midnight? Why didn’t you apply the same procedure again?”

The stewards document goes on to state that the green flag was not displayed at the end of the five-lap period for safety reasons and pointed to Article 22 of the DMSB circuit regulations, which state that “if the checkered flag is shown prematurely, this time is decisive for the classification.”

Crucially, the DMSB has stated that these regulations apply to all events and series on the circuit.

However, Naundorf argued that that article does not apply to this situation.

“That’s what they want to argue about exactly,” Naundorf said.

“This article is actually for cases for what happens by incident. Let’s say somebody’s chequered flags the race four seconds earlier.

“It’s for a very short period where the race actually has to end or qualifying session has to end. So it’s an incident or five seconds too late.”

As a result of ROWE’s appeal, the result of the 52nd running of the Eifel endurance classic remains provisional.

https://sportscar365.com/other-series/n ... e-protest/

[erwin greven]

Nürburgring Post-Race Notebook

Sportscar365’s post-race notebook from the 52nd running of the Nürburgring 24…



***The results of the 52nd running of the Nürburgring 24 remain provisional as a result of ROWE Racing’s appeal in the wake of a rejected protest lodged immediately after the race on Sunday. The Hans-Peter Naundorf-led squad is now set to appear in front of the DMSB’s sporting courts in Frankfurt, although an exact timeframe for proceedings is not yet known at this stage.

***In any case, this year’s edition of the Eifel endurance classic will go into the history books as the shortest-ever, as the No. 16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Christopher Mies, Frank Stippler, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall completed 50 laps before the race was ended. The previous record was set in 2021, when Manthey Racing drove 59 laps in a similarly fog-affected race.

***Red Bull Team ABT driver Kelvin van der Linde expressed his disappointment at the decision to not restart the race, telling Sportscar365: “A lot of the drivers, including ourselves, were pushing for them to basically restart the race, but put the Grand Prix circuit under code 120 or code 60. And as soon as you got to the Nordschleife, go racing. At least even for the first two laps, because we saw as soon as we finished the race, even the Grand Prix track was clear.”

***Audi notched up its seventh N24 victory, having last won in 2022. Mies and Stippler, meanwhile, both recorded their third overall victories at the event while co-drivers Feller and Marschall won for the first time.

***Mies and Stippler have now joined compatriots Markus Winkelhock, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Klaus Ludwig and Herbert Hechler on the list of drivers with three wins at the event.

***As less than 75 percent of the full race distance was completed, only half points will be awarded to IGTC’s BMW, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche entries once the provisional result is finalized. Provisionally, Porsche is now at 58.5 points and 21 points clear of Mercedes-AMG in second place. BMW is third on 26 points.

***Laurens Vanthoor and Ayhancan Guven remain atop the drivers’ standings with 37.5 points each, although Mercedes-AMG driver Luca Stolz has moved into second place courtesy of his fourth-place finish aboard the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

***Notably, Arjun Maini’s has been removed from the No. 4 car in the provisional results even though he was entered alongside Stolz, Maximilian Goetz and Daniel Juncadella. A Mercedes-AMG spokesperson told Sportscar365 that Maini was deregistered to avoid disqualification when it became clear that the Indian racer would not be able to complete the minimum driving time.

***Antares Au scored his first Independent Cup points of the season aboard the No. 24 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R and now sits second in the standings behind Prince Jefri Ibrahim. The Hong Kong driver also took the SP9 Pro-Am victory alongside Patrick Kolb, Indy Dontje and Patric Niederhauser in Lionspeed’s first N24 operating without external support.

***Sheldon van der Linde commented that ‘his heart hurts’ after his No. 99 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 was eliminated in a multi-car incident in the fourth hour that also involved the No. 420 Four Motors GmbH Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS and No. 507 Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing BMW 1 Series.

***Van der Linde said: “If I were in that situation again, I would do exactly the same thing. I believe the driver in the other car didn’t see me. I was in her blind spot as I passed. I was almost past, and then she hit me on the left rear. Then I hit another car that was completely uninvolved, and that’s how it happened. A racing incident. But at the end of the day, we were out after leading for so long and that hurts, also for the team, which puts so much work into it. We work almost half a year towards a 24-hour race, and then it goes so wrong.”

***Alesia Kreutzpointer, the driver of the No. 420 Porsche, has been stripped of her Nordschleife permit and received a fine of €1500 ($1630 USD) after she was determined to have caused the collision at Fuchsrohe.

***The stewards’ decision document outlining the penalty states that “the stewards consider it proven that the driver was primarily to blame for the collision. It was also assessed the wrong decision to overtake from a misunderstanding of the position and the nearly completed overtaking manoeuvre of car No. 99 in this situation. In the view to the overall situation surrounding this accident, the stewards consider the penalty to be sufficient but also necessary.”

***Both Van der Linde brothers came to Kreutzpointer’s defense and condemned comments targeted at the German racer in the wake of the accident on social media, with Kelvin writing: “Alesia and her sister [Jacqueline] are two strong female drivers waving the flag for gender equality in our sport and instead of spreading hate, we should applaud them for their bravery to take on the hardest and most daunting racetrack in the world.”

***Mercedes-AMG extended its win drought at the N24, having now gone eight editions of the event without taking victory. Its last win to date remains the 2016 triumph for Black Falcon, which was the debut outing for the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Its best car, the No. 4 Haupt Racing Team-entered machine for Stolz, Juncadella and Goetz, finished fourth.

***GetSpeed Performance, meanwhile, endured a troubled race with its two factory-backed entries. Notably, its No. 130 car suffered a puncture after an incident at Antoniusbuche that also involved Vincent Kolb’s No. 5 Herberth Motorsport Porsche and the No. 15 Scherer Sport PHX Audi driven by Feller.

***Feller told Sportscar365: “It was nothing on purpose. I lost a lot of time on the Nordschleife lap with the white Porsche in front of me. I wanted to overtake him on the Dottinger Hohe, but we had to brake at Galgenkopf and then the Lamborghini, the Ferrari and the Mercedes-AMG were there. I just could not see him because we already had the foil for the night on our mirrors. I wanted to get out of this side draft from the Ferrari and get back to the side draft from the Porsche because he was getting faster again and then suddenly the Mercedes was there. So yeah really not on purpose, just unlucky that the race was over for them.”

***Woes for the No. 130 Mercedes-AMG, which Fabian Schiller shared with Maro Engel, Jules Gounon and Adam Christodoulou, would later continue as it suffered from ABS sensor issues and bent steering, while a front right suspension replacement meant it spent a significant amount of time in the garage.

*** The sister No. 8 car, meanwhile retired from the car in the wake of an off-track moment for Christodoulou at Metzgesfeld overnight. The British driver told Sportscar365 that he likely encountered fluid on the track which caused him to go off. When the car returned to the pits, it was discovered that a tube had been knocked off the air filter and the team opted to park the car for fear of damaging the engine.

***Christodoulou apologized to Walkenhorst Motorsport driver David Pittard for their opening lap contact that curtailed a competitive run for the No. 34 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. “I’m extremely sorry to David,” he told Sportscar365. “I can’t believe that actually that kind of contact took him out of the race. I was on the slick tyre and the reality was, he tried to go around the outside of me and I just slid. I watched the video back, I had an oversteer at that point and just slid into him and it tagged his rear end and spun him around. I can’t believe that such a touch took them out and obviously we seem to continue unscathed at that point.”

***He added: “In the end I like to think that I race hard and fair with everyone and obviously at all points always trying to avoid contact. I hope that we can have some closer racing again in the future, obviously minus the contact.”

***Event organizer ADAC Nordrhein posted a weekend attendance figure of 240,000 spectators, thus beating last year’s number by 5,000.

***The Intercontinental GT Challenge returns with the third round, the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, on June 27-30.

https://sportscar365.com/other-series/n ... tebook-12/

[Everso Biggyballies]

Somewhat ironic that the fog lifted so soon after the race was called.. We have seen above suggestions that the race being ended was not strictly correct.

To the dismay of the 240,000 spectators, drivers and teams, following five laps behind the safety car to determine whether the race could be restarted, race director Walter Hornung made the call to end the race with 54 minutes left on the clock.

Hornung has now come forward to justify his decisions as to the erly end of the race.

Speaking to the media, Hornung explained: "Our original intention was to resume the race after the restart.

"Before the restart, I called a weather station, which told me that things would improve between 2 and 2:15 pm."

The race restarted behind the safety car. Since a safety car is not normally used on the Nordschleife, the rules for this are not specified in the regulations. The lead vehicle was called the 'leading car', but it took on the function of a safety car according to the DMSB circuit regulations.

"We drove five laps behind the leading car and during this time the weather did not change much," added Hornung.

"What the weather station had predicted did not come true and it was already 2:30pm.

"We were also promised a gap at 8 o'clock and then again at 12 o'clock, but neither of these happened. This made my trust in this weather station even smaller."

When the fog then lifted, it was too late to resume the event which was forming part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge for the first time.

Hornung reflected on the development philosophically: "It's like always; no matter how you do it, you do it wrong.

"If we had let them drive seven or eight more laps, the fog would probably have remained. We didn't, so it cleared up."

He also clarified that the decision was taken not to restart the race and use Code 60 at the worst-effected points on the Grand Prix loop because of feedback from the 2021 event which previously held the record for the shortest event and fewest laps completed.

"Back then, before the interruption, we tried exactly that," noted Hornung.

"Then the drivers came to me and complained that the tyres were getting too cold and it wasn't working. At the time, they made it very clear that they didn't want that."

The decision to end the race with the chequered flag rather than the red flag has major implications for the result.

The possibility of prematurely stopping a race is regulated in the DMSB circuit regulations under Article 17.2, which states that "the organiser may decide that the race ends after a certain time, even if the distance is not reached. After the start of the event, such a decision requires the approval of the stewards."

If the race were abandoned, two laps would be counted back, as was the case when the race was interrupted on Saturday night.

In addition, another clause in the regulations would apply, which would turn the entire classification on its head.

Under this circumstance, Article 35.1 would apply, which states: "The minimum pit stop times (including any time penalties) valid at the time of the classification will be added to the total driving time (of the interrupted section of the race, to determine the starting grid for the resumption) as a time penalty."

That would have led to some delays, as some teams including Rowe tried to be clever behind the safety car and headed for the pits - on the one hand because they hoped to gain an advantage at the restart, but also in case the race was stopped with a red flag.

https://www.autosport.com/endurance/new ... /10619187/