24 Hours Nürburgring

The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a GT and touring car endurance racing event on the Nürburgring, inspired by the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Spa 24 Hours. The venue of this event is held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife (the 22.835km north loop), and is geared towards amateur drivers and primarily production cars. Conversely, the related 1000km Nürburgring is geared towards professional teams and drivers, and is held on the GP Strecke.

Officially called ADAC 24h Rennen Nürburgring in German, it was introduced in 1970 by the ADAC as a low cost alternative to the 1000 km Nürburgring (a sports car racing event that counted towards the World Sportscar Championship from 1953 to 1992).

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 Chrysler Viper GTS-R 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 competitors 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 driver 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 1000 km Nürburgring decades ago. The Aston Martin car in particular was notable that one of its drivers was Aston CEO Ulrich Bez, and 4th in class and 24th overall.

Due to good conditions and stiff competition by similar cars, a new overall distance record (3832km 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 have 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 5th place overall was scored by a BMW 120d, which has roughly half the power of some cars it has beaten. It was driven by Claudia Hürtgen (2005 VLN champion), Marc Hennerici (2005 privateer WTCC champion), Johannes Stuck (son of Hans-Joachim Stuck) and team owner Torsten Schubert.

2007 race

For the 2007 event held on Corpus Christi weekend of June 7-10, more than 260 teams had applied for the 220 race entries. Prior to the start which had been scheduled for 15:00, an approaching thunderstorm made the organizers delay the beginning of the race. Lightning struck the camp of fans, injuring several, while heavy rain made the track muddy. At 16:51, the race was started after two laps behind a safety car. Veteran Klaus Ludwig at the wheel of the Aston Martin DBRS9 which had been given the number 007 took the lead in wet conditions, but hesitating too long with the change to dry tyres, the favorite Manthey team took the lead in their new Porsche 997 GT3-RSR. More weather related drama occurred in the night, when the race was interrupted due to fog for six hours, thus it was an 18h race only.

When the race resumed, the Land Porsche 996 GT3-RSR was slightly damaged when hitting the back of the Manthey car, and the Aston Martin engine failed. Thus the Manthey team could easily defend its 2006 victory. The reliable, yet no more fast enough Zakspeed Dodge Viper GTS-R came in second, with the Alzen brothers Porsche Cayman in 4th and the BMW Z4 M-Coupe 5th.

Remarkable performances were the top ten finishes of a VW Golf 5, an Opel Astra GTC and a BMW 130i, and the 13th place of a Hyundai Coupe V6.

2008 race

For the 2008, over 270 cars were entered, of which only 230 could be accepted. The race began in sunny weather with drama for the favorite Porsche teams of Manthey and Land, losing time with a leaky radiator and a tire failure, and the new Alzen 997 Turbo and the Zakspeed Viper battling for the lead. After the Viper was out, only the BMW Z4 of Claudia Hürtgen, pole setter and winner of the recent VLN race, could challenge the Porsche armada and lead for some laps, but it crashed during the night.

Manthey could catch up and win the race for a third time in a row, with the winning car of 2006 (a 996 model) finishing 2nd. The triumph made the team mechanics cut off Olaf Manthey's famous moustache tips. Sabine Schmitz came in third, also on a Porsche 997. A strong showing among the high powered cars gave the three new Volkswagen Scirocco, finishing 9th and 12th, with veteran Hans Joachim Stuck driving both cars.

Winners

Year	Pilots	Car	Team	Remarks
2008	Marc Lieb Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas Marcel Tiemann	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Manthey Racing	Winner came from 1 lap down up to nearly two laps ahead for victory.
2007	Marc Lieb Timo Bernhard Romain Dumas Marcel Tiemann	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Manthey Racing	race stopped for about 6h due to fog
2006	Lucas Luhr Timo Bernhard Mike Rockenfeller Marcel Tiemann	Porsche 996 GT3-MR	Manthey Racing	No more factory BMW. Manthey had considerable Porsche factory support.
2005	Pedro Lamy Boris Said Duncan Huisman Andy Priaulx	BMW M3 GTR	BMW Motorsport (Schnitzer Motorsport)	Final race for the famous factory M3 GTR V8
2004	Dirk Müller Jörg Müller Hans-Joachim Stuck Pedro Lamy	BMW M3 GTR	BMW Motorsport (Schnitzer Motorsport)
2003	Manuel Reuter Timo Scheider Marcel Tiemann	Opel Astra V8 Coupé	Phoenix Racing OPC Team Phoenix	Three factories enter V8 powered race cars
2002	Peter Zakowski Robert Lechner Pedro Lamy	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Zakspeed
2001	Peter Zakowski Michael Bartels Pedro Lamy	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Zakspeed
2000	Bernd Mayländer Michael Bartels Uwe Alzen Altfrid Heger	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche Zentrum Koblenz	Factory backed Porsche effort
1999	Peter Zakowski Hans-Jürgen Tiemann Klaus Ludwig Marc Duez	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Zakspeed	Return of powerful cars, but none of the new watercooled Porsche 996 is entered yet.
1998	Marc Duez Andreas Bovensiepen Christian Menzel Hans-Joachim Stuck	BMW 320d	Schnitzer Motorsport
1997	Johannes Scheid Sabine Reck Hans-Jürgen Tiemann Peter Zakowski	BMW M3 E36	Scheid Motorsport
1996	Johannes Scheid Sabine Reck Hans Widmann	BMW M3 E36	Scheid Motorsport
1995	Roberto Ravaglia Marc Duez Alexander Burgstaller	BMW 320i	Team Bigazzi
1994	Karl-Heinz Wlazik Frank Katthöfer Fred Rosterg	BMW M3
1993	"Tonico de Azevedo" Franz Konrad Örnulf Wirdheim Frank Katthöfer	Porsche 911 Carrera	Konrad Motorsport
1992	Johnny Cecotto Christian Danner Jean-Michel Martin Marc Duez	BMW M3 Evo. 2	Team Bigazzi	race stopped for hours due to fog
1991	Joachim Winkelhock Kris Nissen Armin Hahne	BMW M3 Evo. 2	Schnitzer Motorsport
1990	Altfrid Heger Joachim Winkelhock Frank Schmickler	BMW M3 Evo. 2	Linder Motorsport
1989	Emanuele Pirro Roberto Ravaglia Fabien Giroix	BMW M3	Team Bigazzi
1988	Edgar Dören Gerhard Holup Peter Faubel	Porsche 911 Carrera
1987	Klaus Ludwig Klaus Niedzwiedz Steve Soper	Ford Sierra Cosworth	Eggenberger
1986	Markus Oestreich Otto Rensing Winfried Vogt	BMW 325i	Linder Rennsport
1985	Axel Felder Jürgen Hammelmann Robert Walterscheid-Müller	BMW 635 CSi	Auto Budde Team
1984	Axel Felder Franz-Josef Bröhling Peter Oberndorfer	BMW 635 CSi	Auto Budde Team
1983	(no race due to construction work)
1982	Dieter Gartmann Klaus Ludwig Klaus Niedzwiedz	Ford Capri	Eichberg Racing
1981	Helmut Döring Dieter Gartmann Fritz Müller	Ford Capri	Gilden-Kölsch
1980	Dieter Selzer Wolfgang Wolf Matthias Schneider	Ford Escort RS 2000	Berkenkamp Racing
1979	Herbert Kummle Karl Mauer Winfried Vogt	Ford Escort	Cavallo Matras
1978	Fritz Müller Herbert Hechler Franz Geschwendtner	Porsche 911 Carrera	Valvoline Deutschland
1977	Fritz Müller Herbert Hechler	Porsche 911 Carrera
1976	Fritz Müller Herbert Hechler Karl-Heinz Quirin	Porsche 911 Carrera
1975	(no race due to oil crisis)
1974	(no race due to oil crisis)
1973	Niki Lauda Hans-Peter Joisten	BMW 3.0 CSL	Alpina	race held in two heats of 8h each[2]
1972	Helmut Kelleners Gerold Pankl	BMW 2800 CS	Alpina
1971	Ferfried Prinz von Hohenzollern Gerold Pankl [3]	BMW 2002	Alpina
1970	Hans-Joachim Stuck Clemens Schickentanz[4]	BMW 2002 TI	Koepchen BMW Tuning

External links

• Winner list on official site
• Fan-Website
• Night-time photos from the 2008 race