MARTIN RAGGINGER
Every 24 Hours of Nürburgring presents fresh challenges to participating teams and drivers, but this year’s event delivered an even longer break in proceedings than were experienced in 2020, resulting in the shortest N24 in the competition’s near half-century history...
Competing in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring is quite unlike participating in any other race. I’ve been taking part every year since 2008, always in 911s, and it’s always hard to win. GT3S are much more competitive at fighting for victory these days, but with a high number of BMWS, Audis and Benzes on the track, not to mention a host of other teams running 911s, every driver has to push relentlessly from start to finish.
Essentially, N24 is a day-long sprint on the world’s most challenging track. Anything can happen. Fog, rain, hail and even snow can present itself in the denser woodland characterising the Green Hell. It doesn’t matter how good you are behind the wheel or how many times you’ve driven the circuit, you have to respect the Nordschleife at all times. It’s a tough place to be, and requires every driver, engineer, mechanic and team strategist to be at the very top of their game.
Last year’s event is a prime example of what I’m talking about. For sure, I was pleased the race was able to go ahead, but I was unhappy about the lack of spectators. N24 is such a massive event and it’s the fans that create the buzzing atmosphere drivers and teams love to be a part of. Naturally, with crowds absent, the race felt very different to previous years, though as I’ll now describe, there were also many other challenges my co-drivers and I had to contend with.
For 2020, Falken campaigned a duo of 991 GT3 Rs, one being the no.33 car and the other carrying no.44 and driven by myself, Klaus Bachler, Peter Dumbreck and Sven Müller. Testing went well in advance of the race, but we didn’t experience the wet conditions we were thrown into shortly after the highly anticipated competition got underway. Temperatures and the weather were very different, meaning teams were unable to make use of much data collated in readiness for the big weekend.
Qualifying brought its own challenges, as demonstrated when Peter experienced an accident in the no.44 911 at Fuchsröhre. Our mechanics worked tirelessly to get the Porsche back to pristine condition, but a penalty in Q2 resulted in a starting position way down the pecking order — opening in forty-seventh place is not exactly what you’re aiming for at the beginning of a lengthy endurance race.
The event started at 3:30pm in the most difficult weather conditions. Constant rain, which was to become heavier as the race progressed, as well as recurring fog, meant the Green Hell lived up to its name. Visibility was hugely compromised, though the Falken 911s ran flawlessly in the initial stages. Indeed, our no.44 car leapt to seventeenth position after a fantastic first stint. We were, quite literally, out of the woods, but we still had some way to go to achieve a podium finish.
Proceedings were brought to a sudden and dramatic halt when, at approximately 10:30pm, the race was red-flagged. I was in the no.44 car making good progress, but heavy rain was hammering down, causing continued problems with visibility and, as evidenced by the number of accidents occurring, keeping cars on the track. With no sign of a let-up, the race director made the correct call and everyone returned to the pits. A review of the situation occurred four hours later, but with no improvement to racing conditions, the event was paused until 8:00am on Sunday morning. Back in the saddle, Falken drivers pressed ahead. I was delighted when our no.44 car finished tenth overall. The no.33 car followed close behind, finishing in eleventh place. ‘Eifel weather’ did its best to derail proceedings, but we were thrilled to get to the end of this tough N24.
To my amazement, 2021’s outing proved just as unpredictable. This time, however, instead of rain, fog was the problem. Just as we experienced in 2020, the race director stopped all action, but for even longer this time around — the break amounted to fourteen hours, resulting under ten hours of race time and the shortest N24 on record. Concern primarily focused on emergency helicopters — pilots stressed they couldn’t take off or fly safely in such poor conditions, leaving drivers at serious risk in case of accident on a farflung part of the track. Stopping the race was the right decision, but it meant we had even less time to get the Falken 911s to the front of the pack.
We narrowly missed out on a podium finish — the no.44 car driven by myself, Müller, Bachler and Alessio Picariello took fourth place. The no.33 car finished ninth, but getting to the end of the race and seeing both cars in the top ten was a fantastic result. Moreover, the no.44 car was the top finishing 991 GT3 R behind the winning Manthey-racing entry, plus in a race featuring a dozen tyre manufacturers, the Falken-shod 911s were the only entries in the top ten not riding on Michelin rubber, proving how competitive Falken’s products are, both on the road and on the race circuit. See you at 2022’s N24!