This year’s Nürburgring 24-hour race saw 160 race cars piloted by 600+ drivers take the green flag at the 45th edition of the race. Of the 160 cars that started the race, 44 of them were Porsches. A record number for our favorite marque. While the best 911 GT3 R finished in 6th position overall, Porsche customer teams managed to secure 6 different class wins.
- Manthey Racing won the SP7 class with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR.
- The Black Falcon TMD Friction squad beat the opposition in the SP10 and V6 classes with the Porsche Cayman GT4 and the Porsche Carrera.
- The Care for Climate team associated with the German rapper “Smudo” (Die Fantastischen Vier) won the AT class with the Porsche Cayman GT4.
- Teichmann Racing proved unbeatable in the Cup 3 class with the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport
- PROsport Performance won in the V5 category driving a Cayman.
Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Vice President of Motorsport and GT cars:
“Porsche was very successful in the classes, which underlines that Porsche’s customer and clubsport were important in all classes here at the Nürburgring. On the other hand, when we look at the top class it’s rather disheartening. We had a lot of bad luck and we lost the cars due to accidents. There were also technical problems with two customer vehicles which forced us to finally pull four of the six GT3 cars out. However, the two other vehicles tackled the 24-hour race without problems. A top ten result is okay, but it’s not why we’d travelled to the Nürburgring.”
Starting from 29th place on the grid, the #31 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Michael Christensen, Klaus Bachler, Lucas Luhr and Norbert Siedlerin survived the race to finish 6th overall. Their Frikadelli Racing teammates in the #30 Porsche drove well and managed to take the checkered flag in 17th position after 24 hours.
Michael Christensen (911 GT3 R #31): “I’m satisfied with this result. The mechanics, engineers and drivers worked well together. Over the entire 24 hours we didn’t touch any other vehicle, and that’s pretty unusual for the Green Hell. At least the shower at the end played in our hands. We changed to wet weather tires and so Lucas was able to make it up to P6.”
Four of the closely watched Porsche 911 GT3 R never had a chance to finish the race:
- Manthey Racing’s 911s, with the starting number 59 and 12, were both sidelined with technical troubles.
- The #911 Porsche had to be pushed back to the garage after being unceremoniously shunted from the race.
- As did the Falken Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 R (#44).
Overall race results
1. De Phillippi/Mies/Winkelhock/van der Linde (US/D/D/D), Audi R8 LMS, 158 Runden
2. Palttala/Catsburg/Sims/Westbrook (BE/NL/GB/GB), BMW M6 GT3, 158 Runden
3. Frijns/Fässler/Müller/Rast (NL/CH/CH/AT), Audi R8 LMS, 158 Runden
6. Bachler/Christensen/Luhr/Siedler (AT/DK/D/AT), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 157 Runden
17. Abbelen/Schmitz/Ziegler/Müller (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 152 Runden
Porsche class winners
AT: Care For Climate, von Löwis/„Smudo“/Schellhaas/Duffner (D/D/D/D), Porsche Cayman GT4
Cup 3: Teichmann Racing, Markus Oestreich/Moritz Oestreich/Jürgen von Gartzen/Sebastian von Gartzen, (D/D/D/D), Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport
V5: PROsport Performance, Schöning/Böckmann/Nett/Muytjens (D/D/D/D), Porsche Cayman
V6: Black Falcon Team TMD Friction, Al Faisal/Bolz/Leib/Schoeller, (SA/D/D/D), Porsche Carrera
SP10: Black Falcon Team TMD Friction, Gómez/Lethmate/Kaya/Piana (USA/D/TR/IT), Porsche Cayman GT4
SP7: Manthey Racing, Aus/Oeverhaus/Jahn/Bollrath, (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR