In a spectacular fight in front of 235.000 spectators, the Team Manthey-Racing, usually home in the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring and composed of drivers Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Marcel Tiemann, succeeded for the fourth successive time in their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at the 37th edition of the ADAC 24h Race Nürburgring against their competitors. They finished the race after 155 laps through the “Green Hell” ahead of Christian Abt, Jean-Francois Hemroulle, Pierre Kaffer and Lucas Luhr in an Audi R8 LMS entered by Abt Sportsline. With his fourth victory in a row after a highly competitive race, team principle Olaf Manthey was able to continue his triumphant and unique success. Marcel Tiemann scored the fifth win at the 24h Race in his racing career and thus crowned himself as the most successful race driver at the classical Nürburgring race. And with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S driven by Emmanuel Collard, Wolf Henzler, Richard Lietz and Dirk Werner, a second Manthey car even managed to gain another position on the podium.
The new team of Uwe Alzen in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entered in class GT3 just barely missed the podium. The Nordschleifen expert who shared the cockpit with Christopher Mies, Lance David Arnold and Sascha Bert was nevertheless not at all disappointed. “It is fantastic to finish into fourth place overall with our car which is close to production”, said Alzen. The temporarily leading Audi A8 of the Pheonix-Team with Nordschleife experienced drivers Marc Basseng, Frank Stippler, Marcel Fässler and Mike Rockenfeller finished fifth ahead of the Frikadelli-Team with Sabine Schmitz, Klaus Abbelen, Dr. Edgar Althoff and Kennth Heyer.
“That is absolutely great”, said Marcel Tiemann who had reason to jubilate when the chequered flag had come out. “Manthey Racing and me, we shall go down in history today. My fifth victory! I still cannot believe it. It has an even greater significance for me than my first success at the 24h. It is also a very special milestone for me to be right on the top of the winners’ list. A great ‘Thank You’ to the brilliant team.” Team principle Manthey could only return the compliment of this most successful driver. “I am incredibly proud on my drivers. I cannot imagine a better quartet for the 24h Race than Timo, Marc, Romain and Marcel.” Both took also their hats off to their rival. “Our compliment also to Audi for their excellent performance”, said Marcel Tiemann and his team manager added: “I was very doubtful before the race whether we would be able to go the pace of the Audi Team. Well, I am really very happy as it worked well and we have in addition scored such a great success.”
Manthey: „The most exciting 24h Race in my career.“
The spectators will continue to remember the action at the Nürburgring for long as the 37th edition of the classical endurance race began with a spectacular, almost one hour long head-to-head fight between the later winning Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with race number 1 and the Ford GT of the Raeder Team. The battle between Manthey start driver Marc Lieb and pole setter Dirk Adorf in the Ford cockpit finished only when the Ford had contact with a slower car which was lapped, spun and dropped back. The Phoenix Audi with Marc Basseng, Marcel Fässler, Mike Rockenfeller and Frank Stippler then went into second place and had an extremely well-balanced competition with the RSR of the later winners until the early morning hours. When the GT3 Audi of the team based at the Nürburgring then also dropped back due to a drive shaft problem, the sister car of Abt Sportsline was able to take up second place. Finally, the team of Olaf Manthey managed to win due to the outstanding reliability which provided the team of the Nordschleife experts the decisive advantage with regard to their competitors. “That was for sure the most exciting 24h Race which I have ever experienced”, said Olaf Manthey after the finish with a sigh, but also with relief. Second-placed Christian Abt confirmed: “This was my eleventh participation in the 24h Race. But there had never been such a high speed from the very beginning. Five times finished into second place now. I am thus actually as consistent as Marcel Tiemann – but with the small difference that he was five times one step higher on the podium. My compliments to Audi who again have proved: Wherever they are going, they always perform appropriately.”
Improved regulations provide exciting and safe sports
The 24h Race also turned out to become a motorsport thriller as the Event Regulations which were introduced this year provided an extremely high balance among the top teams. The bigger race car classes had to cope with technical restrictions, the now eligible GT3 cars straightaway advanced to become candidates for the victory. “Our expectations in this regard have completely come true”, said Walter Hornung, Clerk of the Course, gladly, “because this year, we’ve had so many race cars with the chance to win as hardly ever before.” Apart from the successful Porsche and Audi models, Nürburgring architect Hermann Tilke and his team for example caused a lot of excitement when they gained pole position in their beautiful Ford GT and had such a close battle with the later winner after the race start. “The Dodge Viper of the Mintgen Team, the Schubert and Alpina BMW, too, were absolutely competitive,” informs Hornung. “There were temporarily up to four different makes in the top ten.”
