With three hours completed in the 2024 Nurburgring 24 Hours ROWE Racing’s #99 has worked its way to the lead of the race, with Sheldon van der Linde now installed after Augusto Farfus took the start.
The lead for the #99 at the start of the fourth hour was 5.1 seconds, with the cars now racing in drying conditions following the showers before and during the first hour.
Close behind is the #3 Bilstein HRT Mercedes, which started the race 11th on wets and has made significant progress since moving to cut slicks.
After a standout opening stint from Frank Bird, Arjun Maini (who is on double duty this weekend, and also entered in the #4 Mercedes) is now aboard and is flying the flag for the German brand at this early stage. He’s the only driver in an AMG GT3 lapping in the top five.
The first of the Scherer Sport PHX Audis – the #16 – sits third. Chris Mies is behind the wheel, 17 seconds off the lead and 28 seconds clear of the pole-sitting #72 RMG BMW which is fourth and still very much in contention despite its early unscheduled tyre change.
Pole-setter Max Hesse is in for his first stint in the RMG car, taking over from Daniel Harper who took the start.
After climbing out of the #72, Harper gave his perspective on the start of the race, which saw him dive into the pits at the end of the formation laps for drying wets once it became clear how tricky conditions were on the Nordschleife.
“Went to the grid on cut slicks, whether that would have been a benefit or not I don’t know, but we came in for wets,” said Harper to the English language N24 broadcast team.
“The teams and BMW have two or three forecasts coming in, and any rain that was on our radar was a 1 out of 5 so very low. We thought it would be dry, the GP loop was dry, then when I came through the crowd at Hatzenbach I realised it might not have been the right decision.
“We were lucky we could box straight away, the team changed tyres and we went. Having an ex-DTM team in RMG helped as they were ready to go and we lost as little time as possible.
“The drying wet is very good if the track is dry in areas it can last well. It’s about balancing it as best as you can.”
Rounding out the top five is the #911 Manthey Porsche, which led at the end of the first hour. The car, now driven by Thomas Preining after Kevin Estre took the start in on full wets, lost chunks of time towards the end of the first stint.
With the track drying, the team opted to stay out longer than the other front-running cars who came in to take slicks. Since that first stop, the car has been fighting its way back to the front from seventh overall.
The #98 ROWE BMW that dived in for wets at the start is sixth, with the #27 ABT Lamborghini enjoying a solid early run in seventh. The #1 Frikadelli Ferrari is eighth and two minutes off the lead, ahead of the #4 HRT Mercedes and #44 Falken Porsche which currently sit ninth and 10th.
Since Hour 1 there have been multiple significant incidents.
The most notable drama came in Hour 3 and involved the #15 Scherer Sport PHX Audi, #130 GetSpeed Mercedes and #5 Herberth Motorsports Porsche towards the end of the lap at Antoniusbuche. At high speed, the three cars came together side-by-side, with Fabian Schiller in the #130 becoming sandwiched between the R8 and 911.
Schiller touched both cars, after Ricardo Feller in the Audi moved across the circuit. The impact punctured the right front tyre on the Mercedes and sent Vincent Kolb in the #5 Porsche into a spin.
Kolb, who was lucky not to be collected by another car, rear-ended the barriers on driver’s right and rolled back across the circuit, coming to a stop on the left side.
The #130 endured a long stop for repair work and a tyre change which dropped it to 23rd, the #5 eventually rejoined the race and is down to 22nd.
There were also two other big incidents concerning cars in other classes.
The first was a multi-car incident just after Flugplatz.
Mike Skeen in the #77 Black Falcon BMW went off the road and into the barriers, spreading the tyre wall across the run-off area before coming to a stop on the exit of the right-hander.
Moments later, under double-waved yellows, the #949 Sorg Rennsport Cayman of Harley Haughton came piling in at racing speed, side-swiping the tyres and veering into the stricken BMW. Both drivers thankfully emerged from their cars unscathed.
Another big incident then took place at Adenauer Forst, the #10 Max Kruse Racing VW Golf 7 GT1 TCR ending up on its roof on the grass. Emir Asari too was ok after his off.
Finally, Glickenhaus’ challenging weekend has gone from bad to worse. The SCG 004C, which underwent an engine change and missed Top Qualifying yesterday, is now eight laps off the lead.
The car required a lengthy stint in the garage with the mechanics working on its rear end.
