Falken Motorsports will head into the 2024 running of the Nürburgring 24 Hours full of confidence after another hugely successful race meeting on the Nordschleife, winning both N24 Qualifiers races with its #44 Porsche 911 GT3 R 992.
In the first of the two four-hour races over the weekend – which now form part of the NLS schedule – its #44 was driven by Tim Heinemann and Sven Müller, who headlined a 1-2 for the German brand.
Initially, it appeared that Porsche would take a 1-2-3, as the Falken team’s #33 Porsche crossed the line second after a strong run from Julien Andlauer and Klaus Bachler. However, the #33 would eventually be classified fifth after being handed a time penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag.
This promoted the #911 ‘Grello’ Manthey Porsche of Ayhancan Güven and Thomas Preining to second and the #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 driven by Frank Stippler, Chris Mies and Ricardo Feller to the final step on the podium.
“At the beginning today I had a little trouble keeping up with the Audis’ pace. But things kept going better for us,” said winner Sven Müller.
“The balance of the 911 was perfect and the tyres were great. The pit strategy was also right – this is a successful start to the season!”
Falken team boss Sven Schnabel was also positive: “As a team, we have had a good start to the season and I hope it stays that way. If it stays like this in the 24-hour race, that would of course be perfect.”
Early in the race it didn’t appear to be Falken’s day though, as the two Scherer Sport Audis, which locked out the front row on the grid, held station at the front in the opening laps.
However, they were unable hold off the 911s once the race settled down and would end up classified third and fourth.
“I think you could see today that we couldn’t keep up with the Porsches,” admitted Scherer Sport team boss Axel Randolph. “We were in front and drove a good race, but the Porsches are better in terms of speed.”
Further back it was a strong outing for 2023 24 Hours winner Frikadelli Racing. Luca Ludwig and Nico Varrone ended up sixth overall and just a minute and a half back from the winning Porsche with its #1 Ferrari 296 GT3.
The #130 Team GetSpeed Mercedes took seventh as the highest-placed AMG GT3 in the field, crossing the line just six-tenths ahead of the ABT Sportsline Lamborghini.
It was a quiet race for BMW too. Its best finish was 10th with the #72 Team RMG M4 GT3. Fan favourite Glickenhaus Racing also failed to feature at the front with its SPX-entered SCG 004C, which came home 18th.
The highest-placed car from the other classes was the Cup 2 winning #148 Black Falken Porsche, which finished a lap off the lead, but comfortably ahead of the #120 from AVIA W&S.
Then on Sunday, the teams headed back out onto the Nordschleife for the second race of the double-header. And again it was Falken that would steal the show with its #44 Porsche, this time driven by Nico Menzel and Martin Ragginger.
“I hope it can continue like this – if there was a subscription, I would book it straight away,” said a jubilant Menzel after crossing the finish line, scoring Falken its third win in four NLS races to start the 2024 season.
Race 2 saw BMW enjoy a far better showing, with the #98 M4 GT3 of Raffaele Maricello, Maxime Martin and Marco Wittmann from ROWE Racing pushing Falken’s lead car to the flag. The winning margin was just 1.7 seconds.
“We can be very happy with the podium today,” said Marciello after the race. “Our pace was good, and we had a good strategy. The main goal this weekend was to prepare ourselves as well as possible for the 24-hour race because that’s where it really counts.
“Of course, you can never be one hundred per cent perfectly prepared for such a special race, but I think we are in a good position.”
Despite BMW’s uptick in form, it was once again a double-podium for Porshce, as the #911 from Manthey took third, Preining and Güven just 14 seconds back after 27 laps of racing, beating the sister #99 ROWE BMW to the final trophy-paying position.
Though Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon Van der Linde and Augusto Farfus missed out on a podium, Van der Linde says the trio left the weekend feeling positive ahead of the biggest race of the season at the ‘Ring.
“Fourth place is a good result to end the weekend,” he said. “We may not have had the fastest car, but our pit stops were great and ultimately got us to this position. Of course, the preparation for the 24-hour race was the main focus, and we ticked all the boxes on our list.
“That also applies to me personally. It was my first time this season on the Nordschleife, and I was able to complete many laps which helped me a lot. I feel very well prepared.”
The top five was completed by the first of Scherer Sport PHX’s Audis, the #15 of Frederic Vervisch, Christopher Haase and Dennis Marschall.
Like Falken, Scherer Sport had one car finish well and another retire, as the #16 Audi would only complete 23 laps while Falken’s #33 Porsche crashed out two laps from the finish while fighting for a top-three finish.
Frikadelli Racing’s Ferrari, which qualified third, also didn’t make it to the end but came achingly close to doing so, retiring on the penultimate lap.
Again SPX-entered Glickenhaus struggled to find front-running pace and finished 17th, while KKramer Racing won Cup 2 with its #121 Porsche.
The 2024 24h Nürburgring event is set to be held from May 30th to June 2nd.
Featured image courtesy of Frozenspeed
