The 2024 running of the Nürburgring 24 Hours is finely poised to deliver yet another classic encounter on the fabled Nordschleife, with quality driver line-ups and world-class teams up and down the pit lane in the SP9 and SPX, plus a smattering of interesting entries from the other classes.
With the race start fast approaching, the big question on everyone’s lips, as ever, is: Which manufacturer will come out on top on Sunday afternoon?
Traditionally the N24 is a race that has been dominated by German factories, with just nine of the 51 previous editions won by foreign OEMs.
And this year, barring a surprise from Aston Martin’s customer teams with the new Vantage, a fairytale run from ABT’s Lamborghini, or a re-run of Frikadelli’s shock victory with Ferrari last year, it will be a GT3 car from Germany that will emerge triumphant again on Sunday afternoon.
To this point, BMW has collected all the headlines pre-race and on the face of it looks to be the brand to beat. The #72 RMG M4 GT3, in particular, has turned heads, setting the best times in Qualifying 1, 2 and 3, before taking pole in the Top Qualifying shootout.
But this is an event that is notoriously difficult to predict, with a formbook that more often than not gets ripped up once the lights go out.
So what of the other German marques? As usual, the Porsche camp is one to keep an eye on, and this year its customer teams appear quietly confident that they’re in with a strong chance in year two of the 911 GT3 R 992.
The 992’s start to life as Porsche’s flagship customer racing offering last year was tricky to analyse. The results were immediately there – the car winning GTD Pro in the Sebring 12 Hours in March – but it was a car that needed attention.
Porsche was quick to respond to feedback from its teams and rolled out an update in April to rectify issues with its ABS and TC systems. It made a huge difference.
A year on, it’s a car that has matured nicely and is now a regular race winner in major races around the world.
There’s no excuses for us because this is an important one, you get feedback from the board after this race
As for the N24, Sebastian Golz, the head of the 911 GT3 R project, feels the car is capable of delivering a standout result after last year’s race saw its debut in the event hampered by tyre issues.
“There’s no excuses for us because this is an important one, you get feedback from the board after this race. It’s not the same as Le Mans, but for us, we see this as an extremely important race,” he explained.
“We began preparing for 2024 straight after last year’s 24-hour race. We worked hard alongside the manufacturers to understand last year’s tyre damage. After in-depth analyses, we applied the appropriate measures. The start of the 2024 season showed that we did a good job together.
“Our teams and drivers are happy with the vehicle balance. Now we need to sort out the race procedures and focus on getting through the race without making any mistakes.
“Every time you launch a car you need to prove reliability, the performance and the handling. And it needs to work with different tyres and in different championships. Last year’s launch was a journey, we had issues which is more or less normal, but we were able to solve them.
“We had a tough time on the parts side, but that is calmer now. And I think we managed the supply chain situation really well.”
As such, the aim for the Porsche teams in play here in Germany is simple: score the Stuttgart-based brand’s 14th overall victory on Sunday afternoon and help it edge closer to BMW’s record of 20.
Five of the six 911 GT3 R 992s are entered in SP9 PRO and impressively, you can make the case that all of them are legitimate contenders for an overall podium or better.
The headline car for many fans trackside and at home is of course Manthey’s flagship #911 ‘Grello’ entry driven by Laurens Vanthoor, Thomas Preining, Kevin Estre and Ayhancan Güven, which will start the race on the front row alongside the #72 BMW.
Speaking with DSC, Estre appeared relaxed ahead of the race. The Frenchman has won the N24 before – as recently as 2021 – and feels primed to add another major win to his CV.
The main challenge for the team is navigating such a tough race with a single car, in a field that features five multi-car teams, all benefitting from the ability to be more experimental in strategy and set-up.
“The way it’s going for Manthey this year with WEC, DTM and this, two cars would have been difficult with resources and people. It was correct to do one car. With two cars you definitely learn more, especially with the weather, you can try different things,” Estre said.
“But I think we have everything under control, and our race preparation has been good. When it comes to this race, every Porsche team is so competitive wants to be the first across the finish line and wants to beat us. I think we have the biggest target on our rear bumper.”
Manthey, with its seven N24 wins (all with Porsche) isn’t the only team with high expectations from Porsche’s customer stable this week though. Falken Motorsports heads into the race full of confidence.
The Japanese tyre brand’s longstanding GT team, operated by Schnabl Engineering, has all the ingredients to finally capture a historic first 24-hour victory. It just needs to put them all together and execute a perfect race.
That’s easier said than done of course, but with two cars at its disposal and three wins in four races on the Nordschleife this year to build on, the the teal and blue 911s shouldn’t be counted out.
Falken’s chances of success, as you’d expect, will in part hinge on the performance of its tyres as the track evolves and the weather conditions change. And so far it’s been a tricky week to navigate in that area, mainly because the races in the build-up to this week were held in the dry.
As such, this event has been a voyage into the unknown with its new-for-2024 wets. However, there is real confidence within the team that if the second half of the race is held in mostly dry and cool conditions, it has a strong package to work with.
“We are in a good place with our (dry) tyres, we showed this in the NLS and Quali race. The wet is a question mark because it didn’t rain this year so we didn’t test them, but if it’s dry we should be good,” Alessio Picariello, who drives the #33, told DSC.
“Here it’s as much about luck and traffic management as it is pace, and we have so much experience with that. Pace itself is not enough.”
“The team is working so well this year,” added Martin Ragginger, who will steer the #44. “It’s been tough with the weather changes but we are trying new things. We have a good car and in the preparation races we’ve never been so solid, so we hope to take that momentum in the race and show that we can fight for the top positions.”
Dinamic GT, like Falken, is also an outlier in the class in terms of tyres, as it is the only team in the SP9 field racing with Pirelli. And with its quartet of Marco Holzer, Marco Seefried, Bastian Buus and Marvin Dienst, it too hopes to take the fight to the pack of Michelin runners.
That leaves us with N24 debutant Herberth Motorsport and its FATurbo Express retro-liveried #5 entry.
For its first crack at the ‘Green Hell”s most daunting race, the German team has enlisted Vincent Kolb, Dennis Olsen and Matt Campbell to share its car with team co-owner Robert Renauer.
Is it too early to expect Herberth to mount a serious challenge at the sharp end of the field? Campbell doesn’t think so.
“They’re only a small team but I feel they understand the car and the basics very well,” he explained. “It’s a new race for them, but they’re really relaxed and the atmosphere is really nice. It’s refreshing because it’s very laid back and they do the simple things right. I come to them from a different world now as a factory driver, with lots of meetings.
“We’re in (SP9) PRO, we’re fighting for the overall victory. First, we want to finish the race, then we want to be up there somewhere. We just don’t quite know where we will be yet.
“I think if it was a little wet in the race it would be good for us, as it equalises the field a lot.
“But whatever happens we are properly ready for this one.”
On a personal level too, Campbell hopes for a strong run, as this is an endurance race that has never been kind to him. His record makes for tough reading: four DNFs in five starts.
So just what would a change in fortunes mean for him on his sixth attempt?
“There is nothing like this race on the calendar. It has so many fans, such a good atmosphere and it’s an old-school race,” he said. “For me, it’s the biggest race of the year, I have a lot of other races I enjoy like Bathurst but this is the highlight. It’s so special and there’s nothing else in the world that comes close.
“It’s the biggest race left on the bucket list. I’ve had good wins in my career, but this event is so iconic and is on the top of the priority list.”
Images courtesy of Porsche & Frozenspeed
