The Scherer Sport PHX Porsche of Patric Niederhauser and Laurens Vanthoor took a double win over the weekend at the Nurburgring as the weather played a part in both Nürburgring 24 Hours qualifying races.
Race 1
Saturday’s four hour race of the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers, with heavy rain at times making the Green Hell even more challenging than usual, stretched into the dark and proved to be a serious challenge for drivers and teams.
Patric Niederhauser and Laurens Vanthoor, who took the win in the Scherer Sport PHX Porsche 911 GT3 R, kept their cool and led home the second-placed ‘Grello’ 911 from Manthey EMA with Kévin Estre and Patrick Pilet by almost two and a half minutes. Third place was birthday boy Fabian Schiller, who shared the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed with Luca Stolz and Maxime Martin.
With conditions still dry on Saturday morning, Estre secured pole position with ‘Grello’. “I had a clear lap and no traffic. That doesn’t happen very often on the Nordschleife,” said the Porsche man, who already had a premonition of how the weather would develop throughout the day: “A little rain wouldn’t be bad.”
The Porsche factory driver proved right. Rain set in before the start, adding to the excitement in the first half of the race. One of the prominent victims of the conditions was Julien Andlauer, who lost control of his Falken Porsche after just a few laps and crashed into the barriers.
Veteran Frank Stippler benefited from the challenging conditions in the first hour of the race, taking the JUTA Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II from sixth place to the front of the field.
“As the rain got heavier, I repeatedly experienced aquaplaning, very fast and rough digital loss of grip. That was difficult to control,” admitted Stippler. “But there were surprisingly few incidents. Just getting to the finish line was a challenge.” In the end, he finished eighth, along with ‘SELV’, Elia Erhart, and Alexey Veremenko.
In the closing stages, the eventual winners established themselves at the front of the field, and Niederhauser ultimately held his own.
“Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing here instead of just relaxing on the couch for a weekend,” grinned Vanthoor. “There are no more difficult conditions in motorsport. You couldn’t see anything at the start, after that it was okay for a while, then aquaplaning started. Completely crazy. I wet my pants three or four times per lap, but otherwise everything was fine.”
Estre also struggled with the conditions: “Everyone was experimenting with the tyre pressure at the start – and it backfired on us. In the first, very short, stint, we simply had the wrong pressure. I had no chance. The second stint went better; I was able to overtake the GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG and close the gap a little. Nevertheless, it was very wet, and we were aquaplaning. You couldn’t even go full throttle on the straights because you couldn’t see anything and couldn’t get the power onto the track. Today, you realized once again that the Green Hell doesn’t have its name for nothing.”
Martin, who is considered something of a ‘Rainmeister’ on the Nordschleife, also paid tribute: “It was very difficult to keep the tyres within the working window today. Some cars were really fast; they seem to be handling it better. I hope we don’t have these conditions at the 24-hour race.”
Top 10 finish for Hyundai TCR
Manuel Lauck, Marc Basseng, Mikel Azcona, and Christer Jöns not only took the class win in the TCR class, but also finished ninth overall in the tricky conditions.
“The most important thing today was to stay on the track,” said Jöns, who won the NLS championship in 2009. He made his debut in the Hyundai Elantra N TCR in the qualifiers. “I drove the first few laps in the dry this morning and felt comfortable right away. In the race, I also struggled with aquaplaning, but there are definitely some points that play into the hands of our front-wheel drive cars in these conditions.”
No changes at the top of the standings.
The NLS championship leaders delivered an exceptional performance. In the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by Mühlner Motorsport, Tim Scheerbarth and Arne Hoffmeister, along with David Jahn, dominated the Cup 2 class.
The runners-up also each won their respective classes: last year’s champion Sven Markert and Kevin Wambach, who drove the BMW M240i Racing of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels in the VT2-RWD class with Adrian Rziczny, as well as Nick Wüstenhagen, Ranko Mijatovic, and Tobias Wahl, who competed in the BMW M4 GT4 fielded by FK Performance Motorsport in the SP8T class.
Race 2
The weather also played a major role in Sunday’s ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers race.
On a wet track at the start and with a heavy shower on the final lap, Patrick Niederhauser and Laurens Vanthoor once again held their nerve and won again in the Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Scherer Sport PHX.
Second and third, the 911s of Falken Motorsports and Manthey EMA completed the podium for Porsche.
Beyond the overall standings, a dramatic turnaround involving the Mühlner Porsche in the closing stages led to a change at the top of the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series standings. After five races, drivers from Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels and FK Performance Motorsport are now in the lead.
In the wet qualifying, Kévin Estre set the fastest lap in the Manthey Porsche with a time of 9:11.724. Due to a repair to a hub that took just a few seconds too long, ‘Grello’ was unable to participate in the top qualifying. Fabian Schiller, driving a GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3, secured pole position in the individual time trial with a time of 9:12.919 minutes.
On a drying track, the choice of the right tyres was crucial. The drivers who had opted for slicks initially lost time in the opening laps. Those who played it safe were forced to switch to slicks after just a few laps.
Both Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed cars would lead laps succeeded at the head of the field by the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of the Red Bull Team ABT, the #33 Falken Porsche, and finally, the winners of the fourth NLS race, Vanthoor and Niederhauser.
As the race progressed, the lap times also tumbled. The Scherer duo achieved the fastest lap. The best time of 8:15.925 minutes was more than three seconds faster than their closest competition.
“What more could you want than a one-two finish at the weekend!? They were two very difficult races. You were lucky to make it through unscathed,” admitted Niederhauser.
“The fact that we were able to repeat yesterday’s performance is, of course, fantastic.” Vanthoor added: “It was a perfect weekend. The car was very good. The last lap was exciting again. But everything worked out great.”
Alessio Picariello also struggled with the challenging conditions around the Nordschleife: “After the first two laps, I never would have expected us to make it onto the podium. We had to pit very early, which isn’t normally an ideal strategy. But we had a good pace in the dry and didn’t make any mistakes. A very good result for the team.”
Estre though wasn’t entirely happy with third place: “Of course I wanted the win. We had a good race. The others were just a bit faster and had a different strategy. It wasn’t easy to know where you stood.”
Behind the leading trio, pole-sitter Schiller, along with Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz, finished fourth. Daniel Juncadella drove the Abt Lamborghini, which he shared with Marco Mapelli and Christian Engelhart, to fifth place. The second GetSpeed Mercedes, driven by Ralf Aron, Adam Christodoulou, and Mikaël Grenier, finished sixth.
Change at the Top of the NLS Standings
Immediately after the formation lap, Sunday morning points leader Tim Scheerbarth headed to the pits to have slick tyres fitted at the Mühlner pits. Together with Arne Hoffmeister and David Jahn, he fought his way back to the top of the Cup 2 class in the first half of the race.
With victory in sight though, drama struck shortly before the end of the race: A lapping GT3 car hit Hoffmeister’s rear end, shattering his dreams of victory.
The teams that had previously been second in Sunday’s qualifying race left nothing to chance and won their classes. Sven Markert and Kevin Wambach secured their fourth win of the season in the BMW M240i Racing of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels, as did Nick Wüstenhagen, Ranko Mijatovic, and Tobias Wahl in the BMW M4 GT4 of FK Performance Motorsport.
This puts both teams tied for first place in the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series standings.
Pics by Frozenspeed
