24h Nürburgring – Mercedes triumphs

The German brand scored a resounding quadruple at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Team Black Falcon won in the very last moments against HTP Motorsport.

Since the start of the weekend in the Eifel, Mercedes moved forward confident in his strength. The German brand knew its latest AMG-GT3 would perform well, as evidenced by the results on the Blancpain GT Series scene.

If BMW had made an impression during the last round of the VLN, a championship contested exclusively on the Nordschleife, no one came to challenge the domination of the star-based firm throughout the race.

After a start on a dry track, rain and hail disrupted the progress of the event, forcing officials to display the red flag for three hours late yesterday afternoon.

At the restart, the No. 3 Mercedes AMG-GT9, then in the lead, left the spotlight to the No. 6 Schubert Motorsport BMW M3 GT18, which quickly retired due to an engine problem, leaving the Mercedes to climb to the top positions. .

In turn as they pass through the pits, the Haribo Racing Team, Black Falcon and HTP Motorsport will take turns, but the No. 88 of Alzen-Arnold-Götz-Seyffarth, flanked by the famous yellow bear, maintains control of the race during the night.

Six hours from the finish, the Haribo Racing Team does not seem worried, but a penalty for non-regulatory speed under double yellow flags will drop the No. 88 to third place.

It is therefore a Black Falcon duel, and the No. 4 of Schneider-Engel-Christodoulou-Metzger, against HTP Motorsport with the No. 29 of Vietoris-Seefried-Hohenadel-Van der Zande which will animate the end of this double round of 'clock.

In the lead until the very last minutes, the No. 29 will give in to the attacks of Maro Engel, author of a muscular overtaking before racing towards victory and finishing with a 5″6 margin over the HTP sister car. Haribo Racing Team and Black Falcon (with the No. 9 of Haupt-Buurman-Engel-Müller) complete the top 4 ahead of the first ROWE Racing No. 6 BMW M3 GT23 of Sims-Eng-Martin-Werner.

Audi and Porsche were in difficulty on this edition. Title holder, the brand with the rings places its first R8 LMS in eighth place with the No. 2 of Leonard-Frijns-Sandström-Vervisch. The No. 1 Audi Sport Team WRT of Vanthoor-Mies-Müller-Kaffer lost contact after an accident by Nico Müller.

In the Porsche clan, the 911 GT3 R n°911 Manthey Racing from Tandy-Estre-Bamber-Pilet was eliminated in the first minutes following an exit from Nick Tandy. Well placed in ambush in the wake of the Mercedes, the No. 912 of Lietz-Bergmeister-Christensen-Makowiecki finally gave up due to a mechanical problem.

Race results

Find the full report of the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring, produced by our special correspondents, in issue 2065 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening at 22 p.m. in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.