Frank Stippler, Christopher Mies, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall finished in first place in the 52nd edition of the race in the Eifel Mountains, which actually lasted 7h22′.
The race was initially red-flagged just before midnight on Saturday due to heavy fog that had descended, with an initial restart indicated for Sunday morning, when the fog was expected to lift from the track.
But in the end there was nothing to do in the remaining 14 hours, even though everyone tried to restart by doing five laps behind the safety car. But with fog still present on the Nordschleife, the race result was declared as good as it was at the time.
Atmosphere during Red Flag
Photo by: Gruppe C GmbH
This year’s event thus becomes the 24 Hours of Nurburgring with the shortest distance and race time: Only 50 laps covered by the leader in 7h22′, beating the 2021 record of 59 laps in 9h30′.
At the time of the red flag on Saturday evening, Audi #16 was in the lead and therefore took victory, giving the German manufacturer its seventh success at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. For Mies and Stippler it was also the third overall victory in the event, while for Feller and Marschall it was the first.
The Manthey EMA armed with the #911 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Guven took second place, while the #72 BMW RMG of Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Charles Weerts took third place.
#98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3: Raffaele Marciello, Maxime Martin, Marco Wittmann Fürth, Augusto Farfus
Photo by: Gruppe C GmbH
Rowe doesn’t agree and appeals after the appeal is rejected
This led to a protest from the seventh-placed Rowe team, who were among several cars to pit during the opening laps under the safety car. The protest was rejected, but Rowe intends to appeal the result, which will therefore remain provisional.
The team is aiming for the fact that the end of the race with the checkered flag can actually be replaced with the red flag. In this case, the times of the next pit stop would be added, which would guarantee Rowe victory thanks to the one made under the safety car.
The “Grello” Porsche was actually third at the time of the red flag, while with the pitstop times added with the latter (those of Rowe’s appeal), the BMW-RMG #72 (Harper/Hesse/Weerts) was relegated from second to third place on the restart, which he held during Sunday’s five safety car laps.
The match was decided in the first part of Saturday evening. Conditions were extremely difficult on several occasions, with tire choice playing a decisive role.
Right at the start of the race, several GT3 cars had to pit after starting on slicks or grooved slicks – a correct choice for the formation lap, but a wrong choice for the start of the race.
The opening stages were characterized by a duel between the Rowe-BMW #99 (Frijns/D. Vanthoor/S. van der Linde/Farfus) of Augusto Farfus and the Porsche “Grello” with Kevin Estre at the wheel.
Behind them, Dan Harper in the RMG-BMW #72 (Harper/Hesse/Weerts) produced some real fireworks. After taking pole position, the BMW started on the wrong tires and had to pit after the formation lap. Harper then battled his way up the entire SP9 class field to third.
At the first pit stop, the “Grello” fell back a bit because Estre stayed out an extra lap on wet tyres, losing half a minute. This left the #99 Rowe BMW alone at the front of the field.
But after just over three hours, the white-yellow M4’s race was already over. Sheldon van der Linde was involved in an accident during a lapping, for which a Porsche GT4 was held responsible.
This reopened the battle for victory. Rain began to fall again on Saturday evening, leading to different tire choices and confronting the drivers with the toughest conditions imaginable, as different sections of the track were wet or dry on every single lap.
Slick tires proved to be the optimal choice at this stage, but they did not work equally well on all cars. Scherer’s #16 Audi benefited, taking the lead thanks to an exceptional stint by Frank Stippler.
The “Grello” made a mistake with the slicks and had to end a stint prematurely. Lamborghini-Abt joined the fight for victory thanks to a strong stint from Kelvin van der Linde, but lost ground again in the final stages of the rain when it switched to rain tires for a stint, eventually finishing fifth.
The #4 Mercedes-HRT also joined the fight for the top as one of the three who had chosen the wrong tires at the start and had to return. Gradually, the Haupt Racing Team managed to get back into the leading group and finished the race in fourth place.
The other Mercedes, which had been designated for overall victory, withdrew: GetSpeed ​​#130 (Engel/Gounon/Schiller/Christodoulou) following a breathtaking scene with four drivers trying to get alongside each other four of us through the Antoniusbuche section, the fastest on the track.
Ricardo Feller in the #15 Scherer Audi moved to take the sideline from Vincent Kolb’s #5 Herberth Porsche, but did not see Fabian Schillerf. Kolb spun at 270 km/h, but had only a minor impact and the other two cars had to pit. The fourth, not directly involved, was the Ferrari #1 of Frikadelli Racing (Fernandez Laser/Keilwitz/Ludwig/Varrone) which finished in 12th place.
Luckily nothing worse happened. However, the #130 was out of contention for victory, as the repair required a lap and a half. More stops followed and, after the restart, the race ended behind the safety car.
GetSpeed’s #8 Mercedes (Auer/Christodoulou/Ellis/Grenier) was part of the leading group, but retired after an accident involving Adam Christodoulou at Metzgesfeld, just half an hour before the race was stopped.
The race did not go to plan at all for Aston Martin. The Vantage of Walkenhorst #34 (Krognes/Giermaziak/Pittard/Thiim) suffered a puncture right at the start of the race and lost a lot of time. The best was #35 (Hull/Mazatis/Assenheimer) in 19th place overall.
Glickenhaus-SCG #706 (Mutsch/Mailleux/Arnold/Ledogar) had to replace its gearbox during the race and finished 67th overall. However, it was enough to win the SPX class.
#27 Red Bull Team Abt Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Kelvin Van der Linde, Marco Mapelli Lugano, Jordan Pepper
Photo by: Gruppe C GmbH
That’s why Rowe is appealing
A few hours before the end of the 2024 24 Hours of Nürburgring, a bomb exploded: Rowe Racing’s protest against the result of the race was rejected by the stewards and the team then announced its intention to appeal.
The team led by Hans-Peter “HP” Naundorf now has 96 hours to lodge an appeal at the sports court of the German Motor Sports Federation (DMSB) in Frankfurt. The result of the 52nd edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours therefore remains provisional.
The background is that the #98 stopped after three laps behind the safety car, that is, with two laps to go, to make a pit stop. This allowed Rowe to kill two birds with one stone: on the one hand, he would find himself in an ideal strategic situation for a restart and, on the other, he was prepared for a red flag stop.
“If the race had restarted, we would not have had to make a pit stop with our strategy. The cars in front of us would have had to do so under the green flag regime, losing 50-60 seconds on us”, explained Naundorf in a meeting with some selected journalists, including Motorsport.com.
However, a situation arose that Rowe Racing said it had not even taken into consideration: the race was not stopped with the red flag, but was stopped with the checkered flag. In fact, these are two different events that lead to significant differences in terms of scoring.
The possibility of ending the race prematurely is provided for in the DMSB circuit regulations in article 17.2 (End of the race): “The organizer can decide that the race ends after a certain time, even if the expected distance is not reached. After the start of the event, this decision requires the approval of the stewards.”
Rowe claims the following: in the 24h tender notice there is no article defined to this effect. And even if the circuit regulations were applicable, they do not state that the race must end with the checkered flag. Rowe is therefore hoping that the race will be declared red flagged and in this case completely different rules would apply.
Red flag atmosphere
Photo by: Gruppe C GmbH
Big difference between red flag and checkered flag
First, the previous two laps would be counted, as was the case when the race was stopped overnight. Furthermore, and this is fundamental, another passage of the regulation would be applied which would overturn the entire ranking.
Indeed, Article 35.1 would apply: “The minimum pit stop times (including any time penalties) valid at the time of classification will be added to the cars as a time penalty to the total driving time (of the interrupted race section, to determine the starting grid for the restart )”.
“It was also applied during the stoppage on Saturday evening – said Naundorf. In fact, that is how it was handled, and that is why the order at the restart did not correspond to the result at the red flag – By analogy, if the race is ended prematurely, it is not the checkered flag that must be used, but the ADAC sporting code, which means that the pit stop times must be added.”
In fact, Rowe was only the second smartest team in terms of strategy. In reality, if pit stop times had been added to compensate, victory would have gone to the #54 Porsche-Dinamic (Holzer/Seefried/Buus/Dienst). This car had already pitted after the second lap of SC because it was last in its lap anyway, went up the slope and stopped in the pits again on the third lap of SC.
At this point he had to make a short stop and even overtook Rowe’s BMW. However, Dinamic did not respect the minimum dwell time during the first stop after two laps of SC, which is why a 53-second penalty was imposed.
The cars returned to the pits after the second lap of the SC
– Dinamic-Porsche #54 (Holzer/Seefried/Buus/Dienst)
The cars returned to the pits after the third lap of the SC
– Scherer-Audi #15 (Vervisch/Haase/Winkelhock/Feller)
– Lionspeed-Porsche #24 (Au/Niederhauser/P. Kolb/Dontje)
– Dinamic-Porsche #54 (Holzer/Seefried/Buus/Dienst) (second time)
– Rowe-BMW #98 (Marciello/Martin/Wittmann/Farfus)
The cars returned to the pits after the fourth lap of the SC
– Frikadelli-Ferrari #1 (Fernandez Laser/Keilwitz/Ludwig/Varrone)
– HRT-Mercedes #3 (Maini/Bird/J. Owega/Beretta)
– HRT-Mercedes #6 (Haupt/Fetzer/Aron/S. Owega)
– Walkenhorst-Aston-Martin #35 (Hull/Mazatis/Assenheimer)
– Falken-Porsche #44 (Heinemann/Eriksson/Menzel/Ragginger)
Naturally, all these cars lost positions due to the pit stop. Since there was no restart or recalculation, they were relegated in the final standings. If Rowe were successful, the result of the race would be completely reversed, and everything also depends on the size of the gaps between the cars behind the safety car.
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