136 cars have been entered for the 51st edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours later this month, including a world-class field of GT3 cars set to do battle for overall honours.
For this year’s race, the headline SP9 Pro and Pro-Am classes feature high-quality entries from seven marques, with 33 GT3 cars set to take the start. Of the current crop of GT3 manufacturers, Audi, Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche are all on the list with customer-entered and factory-supported cars.
In the GT3 pack, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II from Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX will sport #1. Belgian Frederic Vervisch is the only one of last year’s winning drivers remaining to return with the team. He will defend his crown with Mattia Drudi, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Lind. Also represented in the Audi camp are R8s from Car Collection and Land Motorsport.
The trio of drivers from GetSpeed, who finished second and third in last year’s 24h, have been retained in their entirety: Adam Christodoulou will team up with Maximilian Götz and Fabian Schiller in the #2 Mercedes-AMG GT3. The #3 sister car will be driven by Maro Engel, Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella.
Mercedes-AMG has the most cars of any make in SP9 with GetSpeed, HRT (Team Bilstein), SP Racing and Schnitzelalm combining for a total of nine cars.
Aston Martin meanwhile is represented by Vantage AMR GT3s fielded by Dörr Motorsport (#69) and Pro-AM team PROsport-Racing (#28).
At BMW, the factory’s own Junior Team, whose BMW M4 GT3 carries the #72, leads the way, with Walkenhorst Racing entering three cars (#100, #101 and #102) as well as Rowe Racing with its regular starting numbers #98 and #99. Here, one of last year’s winners, Dries Vanthoor, will drive for the Bavarian brand in Rowe’s #98.
Vanthoor’s team-mate from last year Kelvin van der Linde is also on the list driving for a different manufacturer, listed in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 for Abt Sportsline (#27). The second Lambo in the field (#7) is entered by Konrad Motorsport.
The updated Huracan is one of three new GT3 models on the list.
A trio of Ferrari 296 GT3s will take on the Nordschleife. Frikadelli Racing (#30), is the headliner. With a victory in the second 24h Qualifiers race in April, Klaus Abbelen’s team scored the 296’s first overall race win worldwide. WTM by Rinaldi and racingone bring the other new Ferraris.
Six of the new 992-spec Porsche 911 GT3 Rs will also take part, with Manthey Racing, Falken Motorsports, HCB Management, Lionspeed by Car Collection and Huber Motorsport. which is now based on the 992 model series.
Elsewhere in the field, there are strong numbers in the SP10 GT4 class, with 16 cars on the list, and fan favourites such as the Opel Manta and Dacia Logan will also tackle the twice-around-the-clock challenge.
One name missing from the list is Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus. The US-flagged team has opted to sit out the N24 to focus on its FIA WEC Hypercar campaign with the 007 LMH. The SPX category that SCG usually competes in features just two cars, both Mercedes-AMG GT2s, from HRT and Schnitzelalm Racing.
