With three hours to run in the 2023 Nürburgring 24 Hours, Frikadelli Racing still leads with its #30 Ferrari 296. Nicky Catsburg is currently behind the wheel heading into the final three hours and has a 1-minute 48-second lead over the #98 ROWE Racing BMW.
Both cars have had a head-turning 21 hours in this one and look set to continue their fight for overall honours all the way to the flag. ROWE has been pushing all morning and into the early afternoon, applying pressure to the Frikadelli team which is trying to manage the gap.
The result of ROWE’s efforts is that the lead gap has come down by around a minute in the past three hours. Heading into the final six hours the Ferrari was almost three minutes clear.
It will be fascinating to see how the final set of stops play out in the final hour, and how that impacts the margin between the two contenders.
Despite being within two minutes of the leading Ferrari after more than 20 hours of racing, ROWE team boss Hans-Peter Naundorf feels the team doesn’t have the pace to catch and pass the #30.
“After adjusting for the pit stops, we’re clearly second,” he says. “On the one hand, we’re happy to drive up there after we had to start from position 31. On the other hand, unfortunately, it’s also a bit of a battle with blunt weapons. It’s frustrating that the performance of other vehicles is significantly higher at the moment.”
Third, and just over three minutes off the leader, is the #4 pole-sitting Bilstein Mercedes, which moved into the top three during the 19th hour when Luca Stolz muscled past Fabian Schiller in the #2 GetSpeed AMG GT3 on the Grand Prix loop after a long tussle. The #4 has since consolidated its position, and pulled away from the #2, which is now almost a minute further down the road.
The top five is completed by the #96 Rutronik Porsche.
Outside of the top five, Team Land’s quiet run continues. The #39, which is the first car off the lead lap, represents Audi’s only realistic chance of a top-five finish.
The first of the SP9 Pro/Am contenders is the WTM by Rinaldi Ferrari which is running an impressive seventh, two minutes ahead of its closest Pro/Am rival, the #6 Bilstein Mercedes, that sits eighth.
Featured image courtesy of Frozenspeed
