The Audi R8 LMS was once again class winner at its third participation in the 24 Hour Race at the Nürburgring. The mid-engine sports car from AUDI AG won the GT3 class for the third successive time and, like last year, finished third overall. The Audi TT RS also impressed the 250,000 spectators: the quattro GmbH development demonstrator took the chequered flag in 14th position overall and won class SP 4T as best front-wheel drive car in the field of 202 cars.
In a thrilling finale, the Audi R8 LMS number 14 of the Audi Sport Team Phoenix driven by Marc Basseng/ Marcel Fässler/ Frank Stippler passed the Mercedes SLS, class leader at that time, 43 minutes before the finish when the latter had to come for a pit stop with a technical problem. Christopher Haase/ Marc Hennerici/ Markus Winkelhock (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) and Mattias Ekström/ Timo Scheider/ Marco Werner (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) completed the Audi one-two-three result in class GT3 with fourth and fifth positions overall at the finish.
The dream of a first overall victory for the brand in the classical endurance race in the Eifel region did, however, not come true. The GT2 cars of Porsche, BMW and Ferrari were superior to the GT3 cars during this 39th 24 Hour Eace. “In qualifying already we realized that our R8 LMS with the current balance of performance would not be the fastest car,” explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “This was confirmed in the race. Furthermore, none of our four works cars made it through the race completely without incidents.”
The finally best placed Audi R8 LMS, start number “14”, lost around four minutes due to a loose front splitter just before 21:00. The front splitter was changed early Sunday morning, which resulted in an additional time loss of 2:50 minutes. Basseng/ Fässler/ Stippler nevertheless managed to still move up into third place.
In the first part of the race, the second Audi R8 LMS of the Audi Sport Team Phoenix with start number “15” had contact with another car which necessitated a quick repair. On Sunday morning Markus Winkelhock lost time in the traffic because the high beam flash did not work so that he was unable to warn the slower cars of his approach. The problem was solved after changing the steering wheel. Christopher Haase, Marc Hennerici and Markus Winkelhock dropped behind the sister car at the end on Sunday afternoon amongst others as they lost time twice during refueling.
Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider and Marco Werner in the Audi R8 LMS #16 entered by Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline were in second overall position at times during the night before Marco Werner, at 4:53 in the morning, became the victim in a collision in which the front end of the R8 LMS was badly damaged. The repair took just five minutes but threw #16 out of the leading group.
The second Audi R8 LMS of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (#17) lost 20 minutes already at the beginning of the third hour when a relay became loose and disabled the R8 LMS on-board electronics. Christian Abt, Christer Jöns, Luca Ludwig and Christopher Mies rejoined the race from 66th position and had already moved up onto eighth overall position when Luca Ludwig became a victim of the ensuing drizzle and went off the track in the passage “Quiddelbacher Höhe” at 3:34 hrs. The repairs to the damaged rear end took 40 minutes. Car number “17” still managed to move up from 18th into twelfth position. All of the four works R8 sports cars that had started thus took the checkered flag.
Audi race experience could also celebrate a good result: The Audi R8 LMS number 28, in which professional race driver Frank Schmickler shared the cockpit with Audi driving experience customers, finished in a a remarkable 18th overall position after a completely trouble-free race. The second R8 LMS had an accident in the eleventh lap already after a tire failed at the section “Tiergarten”. Driver Chris Vogler was uninjured.
There were also ups and downs in the team of Raeder Motorsport which had entered two Audi TT RS on behalf of quattro GmbH. Despite a tire failure after the start of the race and a collision on Sunday morning, Michael Ammermüller, Frank Biela, Jens Klingmann and Martin Tomczyk finished the race as best front-wheel drive car and in an excellent 14th position overall and scored a superior class win in the development demonstrator. Christian Hohenadel/ Jimmy Johansson/ Miguel Molina and Andrea Piccini lost 75 minutes in the second TT RS early on due to a damaged wastegate valve on the turbocharger and more time just before the end of the race because of a gear shift problem.
