BMW ends decade-long drought to win truncated, drenched Nordschleife enduro
NURBURGRING 24 HOURS NURBURGRING (DEU) 26-27 SEPTEMBER
In Germany, they call it Eifelwetter: the unforeseeable weather that encircles the Nurburgring-nordschleife. And once more, the local climate decided the outcome on the Green Hell. This time it was Audi who got caught out; one lap too many on slicks enough for Car Collection Motorsport to lose a race that seemed to be falling its way.
Just as the rain started pouring down in the Eifel mountains, it was the Rowe Racing team that reacted swiftly, taking on wet tyres to send the #99 BMW M6 GT3 of Nick Yelloly/alexander Sims/nicky Catsburg back out and to the top. At the same time, Christopher Haase was struggling to keep the #3 Car Collection Audi he shared with Mirko Bortolotti and Markus Winkelhock on the slippery track. Almost a minute was lost as he crept to the pits for treaded tyres.
Rowe team principal Hans-peter Naundorf described the 2020 edition as one of the most difficult races he had ever been involved in. Heavy rainfall caused a 9.5-hour interruption during the night, with the race being decided in a 7.5-hour ‘dash’ to the end under wet/dry conditions starting at 0800.
There was heavy pressure on Catsburg during the final laps, but the Dutch racer didn’t put a foot wrong, despite admitting he “almost shit my pants” when informed that Haase was catching quickly. In the end, just 15.5s separated the victorious BMW from the Audi, providing BMW’S elusive first N24 victory in 10 years. The #42 Schnitzer and #98 Rowe Racing BMWS took third and fourth, making the
Munich manufacturer’s day even sweeter.
On raw pace, none of these cars should have clinched victory, but they managed to survive the rainy conditions, unlike the dominant #4 Haupt Racing Team and #9 Getspeed Mercedes-amgs. Both Manuel Metzger and Raffaele Marciello crashed out from the lead on Saturday evening before the race was red flagged. With the Mercs clearly the fastest cars in heavy rainfall, it was a bitter blow.
The second string of Mercedes failed to hit the front, with the #6 Autoarena car losing a wheel on Sunday morning but still managing eighth as best of the Silver Arrows. The crew was followed by the #2 Haupt Racing Team entry in ninth, which had endured a 16-hour repair job on Friday after Yelmer Buurman crashed heavily at Schwedenkreuz in Thursday night’s practice session.
The events preventing Porsche from taking victory were even more dramatic. With the N24 – delayed by four months by the COVID-19 pandemic – taking place just one week after the Le Mans 24 Hours, there had always been a risk of the Manthey squad missing their home race. And this is exactly what happened: three people from the outfit tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday evening at Le Mans, causing the team to not only withdraw its popular ‘Grello’ 911, but also for the manufacturer to pull all its factory drivers. On an ad hoc basis, all Porsche driver pairings were reshuffled, making use of their ‘retired’ veterans Jorg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard. Incidentally, those tests proved to be “falsely positive”…
The #31 Frikadelli-entered 911 GT3-R proved to be Porsche’s greatest hope for a podium, after both KCMG cars made contact with backmarkers. However, the machine was penalised in controversial fashion owing to Mathieu Jaminet’s hard-fought battle with Philipp Eng in the #98 Rowe BMW. Both cars tagged several times, but neither suffered a disadvantage, so there was some sympathy for the team.
The two Falken Porsches couldn’t manage better than 10th and 11th. This was down to Michelin’s total domination in cold and rainy conditions. With track temperatures dropping to as little as 4C during the night, there was no opposition to the French giant. Falken managed best of the rest, with both the Yokohama- and Goodyear-shod cars never in contention, most notably robbing Walkenhorst’s
#34 BMW any chance of victory.
The tyre disadvantage was shown in most dramatic fashion by the Goodyearshod #26 Octane 126 Ferrari that started from the front row. Jonathan Hirschi managed to lead on the Grand Prix circuit, only to drop like a stone once the pack reached the Nordschleife, finishing a distant 20th and six laps down. Worse, the 488 was later disqualified as Simon Trummer failed to reach the minimum driving time of 15 laps.
The 2020 N24 will be remembered for being the one held without countless fans lining the Nordschleife. Only a few hundred came to watch, all sitting in the grandstands around the GP circuit. The absent campfires and barbecues created a surreal atmosphere, which was matched by the smallest entry in decades – only 89 cars started. Hopefully these aspects will revert to type in 2021, meaning the Eifelwetter won’t be the only regular feature.