24 Hours Nürburgring

The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a touring car endurance racing event on the Nürburgring, inspired by the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Spa 24 Hours and the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Officially called ADAC 24h Rennen Nürburgring in German, it was introduced in 1970 by the ADAC as a low cost alternative to the 1000km Nürburgring (a sports car racing event that counted towards the World Sportscar Championship since 1953).

Unlike the rather professional 1000km race, the 24h race is mainly dedicated to amateur drivers and relatively cheap production cars. Due to the huge grid (220 cars in 3 groups) and the love of the drivers for the challenging Nordschleife (Northern Loop), it was and is always held on this long track, even after the new shorter GP-track was built in 1984 and the 1000km moved there since.

Typical entries range from standard road cars to European Touring Car Championship vehicles, and sports cars like the Porsche 911. As interest had dropped in the 1990s when only rather standard FIA Group N cars competed, stronger vehicles were admitted since 1999, like the Zakspeed Dodge Viper which originally was built to FIA GT2-spec, modified Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars from Opel and Abt Sportsline-Audi, and the Schnitzer Motorsport-entered BMW M3 GTR V8 that had been run in the 2001 American Le Mans Series.

Due to various changes and versions of the Grand Prix Strecke, the overall length of the track varied from the original 22.835km to nearly 26km of the maximum length configuration which was in use in 2002 and 2003, after the GP track had been extended by the Mercedes Arena. A 25.3km variant is in use since 2005, bypassing the Arena which is used for a parking zone for the competiors of the other races.

For practice, 230 cars are allowed, 220 qualify for the race, driven by 800 or more drivers, as 2, 3 or 4 can share a car. One pilot is allowed to drive 150 minutes nonstop, and can enter on two cars, yet a rest time of at least 2 hours has to be observed between two turns.

2006 race

Unlike the two previous races, held on Ascension Day weekend in May in rainy and very cold weather, the 2006 event [1] was run in warm, sunny and dry conditions on Corpus Christi (feast) weekend of June 17-18. Pure factory teams that challenged for the overall win were absent, yet Aston Martin and Maserati had entered factory-backed cars to promote their products, reminding of three overall wins each in the 1000km Nürburgring decades ago.

Due to good conditions and stiff competion by similar cars, a new overall distance record (3.832 km in 151 laps) was scored by the Porsche 911 of Manthey Racing that already had been the best privateer team in the previous three years. This team is partially supported by Porsche, though, with factory drivers, a 3.8L 500PS engine and a sequential gear box. Second place finishers Jürgen Alzen/Uwe Alzen/Klaus Ludwig/Christian Abt of the Jürgen Alzen Motorsport was only one lap down and has beaten the old record, too. They used a conventional gear box and a privately built 3.8L 500PS engine. The third of three fastest Porsche, the Wolfgang Land Motorsport 911, had suffered a fiery failure of a standard 3.6L Porsche 911 GT3-RSR race engine after 21 hours, yet was classified as 14th with 133 laps.

A remarkable 5h place overall was scored by a BMW 120d, which has roughly half the power of some cars it has beaten. It was driver by Claudia Hürtgen (2005 VLN champion), Marc Hennerici (2005 privateer WTCC champion, Johannes Stuck (son of Hans-Joachim Stuck) and team owner Torsten Schubert.

Winners

Year	Pilots	Car
2006	Lucas Luhr / Timo Bernhard / Mike Rockenfeller / Marcel Tiemann	Porsche 911 GT3-MR
2005	Pedro Lamy / Boris Said / Duncan Huisman / Andy Priaulx	BMW M3 GTR
2004	Dirk Müller / Jörg Müller / Hans-Joachim Stuck / Pedro Lamy	BMW M3 GTR
2003	Manuel Reuter / Timo Scheider / Marcel Tiemann	Opel Astra V8 Coupé
2002	Peter Zakowski / Robert Lechner / Pedro Lamy	Chrysler Viper GTS-R
2001	Peter Zakowski / Michael Bartels / Pedro Lamy	Chrysler Viper GTS-R
2000	Bernd Mayländer / Michael Bartels / Uwe Alzen / Altfrid Heger	Porsche 911 GT3-R
1999	Peter Zakowski / Hans-Jürgen Tiemann / Klaus Ludwig / Marc Duez	Chrysler Viper GTS-R
1998	Marc Duez / B. Bovensiepen / Christian Menzel / Hans-Joachim Stuck	BMW 320d
1997	Johannes Scheid / Sabine Reck / Hans-Jürgen Tiemann / Peter Zakowski	BMW M3
1996	Johannes Scheid / Sabine Reck / Widmann	BMW M3
1995	Roberto Ravaglia / Marc Duez / Alexander Burgstaller	BMW 320i
1994	Wlazik / Katthöfer / Rosterg	BMW M3
1993	Tonico de Azevedo / Franz Konrad / Wirdheim / Katthöfer	Porsche 911 Carrera
1992	Johnny Cecotto / Christian Danner / Martin / Marc Duez	BMW M3
1991	Joachim Winkelhock / Kris Nissen / Armin Hahne	BMW M3
1990	Altfrid Heger / Joachim Winkelhock / Frank Schmickler	BMW M3
1989	Emanuele Pirro / Roberto Ravaglia / Fabien Giroix	BMW M3
1988	Edgar Dören / Holup / Faubel	Porsche 911 Carrera
1987	Klaus Ludwig / Klaus Niedzwiedz / Steve Soper	Ford Sierra Cosworth
1986	Markus Oestreich / Otto Rensing / Vogt	BMW 325i
1985	Felder / Hammelmann / Walterscheid-Müller	BMW 635 CSi
1984	Felder / Bröhling / Peter Oberndorfer	BMW 635 CSi
1983	(no race, construction work)
1982	Gartmann / Klaus Ludwig / Klaus Niedzwiedz	Ford Capri
1981	Döring / Gartmann / Müller	Ford Capri
1980	Selzer / Wolf / Schneider	Ford Escort RS 2000
1979	Kummle / Maurer / Vogt	Ford Escort
1978	Müller / Hechler / Geschwendtner	Porsche 911 Carrera
1977	Müller / Hechler	Porsche 911 Carrera
1976	Müller / Hechler / Quirin	Porsche 911 Carrera
1975	(no race)
1974	(no race)
1973	Niki Lauda / H. P. Joisten	BMW Coupé 3,3
1972	Helmut Kelleners / Pankl	BMW Alpina
1971	von Hohenlohe / Pankl	BMW Alpina
1970	Hans-Joachim Stuck / Clemens Schickentanz	BMW 2002 TI

External links

• Official site
• Fan-Website