Porsche secures double podium at Nürburgring 24 Hours

The “Grello” car shared by Kévin Estre, Ayhancan Güven and Thomas Preining was in control for most of the race after lining up on pole, and was leading into the closing stages.

But a late incident resulted in a 100-second penalty, and though the team crossed the line first, it was demoted to second as the only other car on the lead lap.

In third was the #54 Dinamic GT Porsche of Bastian Buus, Matteo Cairoli, Loek Hartog and Joel Sturm, which made a heroic charge through the field having started in 19th place.

Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R, said after the race: “24 hours in the ‘Green Hell’ – we experienced a roller coaster of a race and unfortunately lost cars to technical issues and accidents during the race.

“But we’ve nothing to hide and we defended the lead for many, many hours. Still, our drivers demonstrated just how competitive the 911 GT3 R is. The final stint demanded everything. Emotionally, and in terms of commitment from our drivers and teams.

“Although we crossed the line in first place, a 100-second time penalty for a sporting infringement cost us the victory. As a result, we finished the Nürburgring 24 Hours in second place overall with Manthey EMA.

‟Dinamic GT with drivers Bastian Buus, Joel Sturm, Loek Hartog, and Matteo Cairoli sharing the cockpit, achieved a tremendous result running on Pirelli tyres. They fought their way through the entire 24 hours, delivering an exemplary race from 19th on the grid.

“Congratulations also to Hankook Competition, with Marco Holzer leading the team as the pro behind the wheel. Despite very limited preparation time and extremely challenging conditions, they persevered and never gave up.”

Other successes included victory in the Cup 2 class for the #948 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON car shared by Tobias Müller, Noah Nagelsdiek, Dylan Pereira and Carlos Rivas.

The #962 W&S Motorsport 718 Cayman GT4 CS (Typ 982 shared by Joshua Bednarski, Finn Zulauf, Lorenz Stegmann and Kai Riemer, won in Cup 3.

Story of the race: SP9 Pro

The “Grello” car driven by Güven and factory drivers Thomas Preining and Kévin Estre led long stretches of the endurance classic, running on the 25.378-kilometre traditional circuit.

The race was interrupted after 90 minutes after the power supply in the pit building broke down, forcing a red flag as it meant that among other things, the fuel pumps were no longer working.

When the race resumed at around 20:00 after a two-and-a-half-hour break, Estre took the lead again in the Manthey EMA Porsche.

In midsummer conditions with tarmac temperatures of up to 56 degrees, the Frenchman and his co-drivers dictated the action with a flawless performance throughout the shortest night of the year.

The crew took the lead for the final time in the final three hours, passing the #98 ROWE BMW during a pitstop sequence thanks to a slow zone.

Unfortunately, it encountered trouble in the closing stages. While still in the lead, Estre came under increasing pressure from the #98 BMW. In the ‟Miss-Hit-Miss” section of the circuit, the Frenchman encountered an Aston Martin and attempted to overtake the car on the inside at the third corner apex.

This resulted in contact, causing the British sportscar to crash. A good three hours later, race control imposed a 100-second stop-and-go penalty for this incident, which was added retrospectively to the car’s overall time after the finish.

Despite the setback, the fierce battle continued between the ‟Grello”, now with Ayhancan Güven at the wheel, and the Rowe BMW.

At around 12:30pm, Güven was forced to relinquish the lead after losing momentum while lapping slower cars just before Döttinger Höhe. However, a longer service stop by the BMW 45 minutes later allowed Güven to move back into first place following his own pit stop.

Estre took over the final stint and held the lead to the chequered flag.

The #54 Dinamic GT Porsche, which finished third, put in a stellar effort to charge through the field.

Starting in 19th, the crew had already made it up to 15th place by the early-race restart, and continued their brilliant progress to run seventh after the first 16 hours with a largely faultless performance.

With more clean running, the #54 made it to fourth, where it ran for much of the closing stages.

But misfortune for the #28 Abt Lamborghini with just 30 minutes to go forced them into the pits, allowing the #54 to swoop in and capture the final podium position.

The #55 Hankook Competition car put in a valiant effort to finish ninth overall, despite limited preparation time and extremely challenging conditions.

The car was shared by Jongkyum Kim, Roelof Bruins, Marco Holzer and Steven Cho.

For Falken's #33 car, the race came to an end after 23 laps just after 22:00. The car, which was in second place at the time, collided in Turn 2 with a Cup Porsche behind a blind corner.

This car had been turned round by another competitor and blocked the racing line.

The collision meant the end of the race for local hero Nico Menzel, Alessio Picariello and the two former Porsche Juniors Julian Andlauer and Sven Müller.

The sister Falken car came to a halt on the Döttinger Höhe at around 8:20am on Sunday morning.

As a result, Dennis Marschall, Dorian Boccolacci, Morris Schuring and Tim Heinemann were also eliminated from the battle for top positions.

The #48 Black Falcon car, shared by Daan Arrow, Ben Bünnagel, Mustafa Mehmet Kaya and Gabriele Piana also retired during the morning, having been running high up the Pro-Am order.

It overheated while attempting to reach the pits at low speed following a puncture.

Highlights across the classes

Porsche had highlights across the classes, with fantastic results for many of the customer racing entries.

There was brilliant racing as ever across both classes of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring Cup.

In Cup 2, the #948 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON car shared by Tobias Müller, Noah Nagelsdiek, Dylan Pereira and Carlos Rivas claimed victory.

A special mention goes to the #901 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport pairing of Fabio Grosse and Patrik Grütter, who finished third in the class with just two drivers to complete the full 24-hour distance.

The Cup 3 win was taken by the #962 W&S Motorsport 718 Cayman GT4 CS Typ 982 shared by Joshua Bednarski, Finn Zulauf, Lorenz Stegmann and Kai Riemer.

In the AT2 category, Max Kruse Racing took victory in its #644 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) shared by Dominik Fugel, Marcel Fugel, Moritz Oestreich and Tom Coronel.

The SP7 class was won by the quartet of Julian Reeh, Valentin Lachenmayer, Mark Trompeter and Ralf Schall in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (997).

Coming next

There is little time for rest, with the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa taking place next weekend at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Free practice starts on Thursday, with qualifying later that evening. Superpole will take place on Friday, before the race gets underway at 16:30 CEST on Saturday June 28.

Full results

SP9

2 #911 Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R: Kévin Estre, Ayhancan Güven, Thomas Preining

3 #54 Dinamic GT, Porsche 911 GT3 R: Bastian Buus, Matteo Cairoli, Loek Hartog, Joel Sturm

9 #55 Hankook Competition, Porsche 911 GT3 R: Jongkyum Kim, Roelof Bruins, Marco Holzer, Steven Cho

DNF

#44 Falken Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R: Dennis Marschall, Dorian Boccolacci, Morris Schuring and Tim Heinemann

#33 Falken Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R: Julian Andlauer, Nico Menzel, Alessio Picariello, Sven Müller

#48 BLACK FALCON Team EAE, Porsche 911 GT3 R: Daan Arrow, Ben Bünnagel, Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, Gabriele Piana

AT2

1 #644 Max Kruse Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992): Dominik Fugel, Marcel Fugel, Moritz Oestreich, Tom Coronel

2 #718 Manthey Racing, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS M: Georg Griesemann, Björn Griesemann, Dirk Adorf, Yves Volte

3 #320 Four Motors, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992): Hamburg Smudo, Ralf-Peter Bonk, Michelle Halder, Marco van Ramshorst

AT3

2 #420 Four Motors, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport (Typ 982): Marc Schöni, Henning Cramer, Oliver Sprungmann, Christoph Hewer

DNF

#633 Four Motors, 718 Cayman GT4 CS (Typ 982): Alesia Kreutzpointner, Jacqueline Kreutzpointner, Boris Hrubesch, Michelle Halder

Cup 2

1 #948 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON: Tobias Müller, Noah Nagelsdiek, Dylan Pereira, Carlos Rivas

2 #918 Mühlner Motorsport: Nick Salewsky, Tim Scheerbarth, Martin Rump

3 #901 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport: Patrik Grütter, Fabio Grosse

4 #900 BLACK FALCON Team ZIMMERMANN: Alexander Hardt, Maik Rosenberg, Peter Ludwig, Thomas Kiefer

5 #777 RPM Racing: Tracy Krohn, Nic Jönsson, Philip Hamprecht, Patrick Huisman

6 #904 Mühlner Motorsport: Antal Zsigo, Janis Waldow, Christopher Rink, Kai Riemer

DNF

#919 Richard Jodexnis, Kersten Jodexnis, Robin Chrzanowski, Peter Scharmach

#927 Max Kruse Racing: Jan Jaap van Roon, Tom Coronel, Paul Meijer, Rudy van Buren

#912 KKrämer Racing: Karsten Krämer, Sascha Steinhardt, Oleksii Kikireshko, Leo Messenger

#929 KKrämer Racing: Moritz Oberheim, Fidel Leib, Tobias Vazquez-Garcia, Michele di Martino

#94 Sante Royale Racing Team: Stefan Kiefer, Marius Kiefer, David Kiefer, Luca Rettenbacher

Cup 3

1 #962 W&S Motorsport: Joshua Bednarski, Finn Zulauf, Lorenz Stegmann, Moritz Oberheim

2 #977: Tim Müller, Desiree Müller, Michael Fischer, Juan Carlos Carmona Chavez

3 #969 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport: Maximilian, Bernhard Wagner, Kurt Strube, Guy Stewart

4 #979 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport: Alexander Müller, Anna-Lena Binkowska, David Binkowska, Dietmar Binkowska

5 #949 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport: Kasparas Vingilis, Henning Eschweiler, Damon Surzyshyn, Finn Wiebelhaus

6 #932 Breakell Racing: Martin Rich, Alvaro Fontes, Guillermo Aso, Pippa Mann

7 #982 W&S Motorsport: Christoph Krombach, Fabian Peitzmeier, Axel Duffner, René Höber

8 #939 Mühlner Motorsport: Ke Shao, Rüdiger Schicht, Franz Linden, Tommy Graberg

DNF

#941 Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels: Aaron Wenisch, Ryusho Konishi, Daniel Dörrschuck, Nico Silva

#978 KKrämer Racing: John Finken, Peter Sander, Jang Han Choi, Mario Handrick

#959 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport: Heiko Eichenberg, Harley Haughton, Björn Simon, Peter Cate

#945 Renazzo Motorsport Team: Markus Nölken,, Otto Klohs, Daniel Nölken, Kouichi Okumura

SP10

3 #164 W&S Motorsport, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS: Stephan Brodmerkel, Jürgen Vöhringer, Hendrik Still, Niclas Wiedmann

SP7

1 #97, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (997): Julian Reeh, Valentin Lachenmayer, Mark Trompeter, Ralf Schall

2 #80 tm-racing.org, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport (Typ 982): Reiner Neuffer, Benedikt Höpfer, Sebastian Brandl, Fabio Sacchi

3 #77 BSL Racing Team, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS: Alexander Walker, Philipp Hagnauer, Christoph Ruhrmann, Georg Kiefer

DNC

#909, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991): Lukas Ertl, Maximilian Ertl, Stefan Ertl, Matthias Benndorf

DNF

#70 BLACK FALCON Team ZIMMERMANN, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS: David Barst, Anton Ruf, Axel Sartingen, Nils Schwenk

DNS

#778 RPM Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991): Lukas Moesgen, Philip Hamprecht

V5

1 #444 Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels: Ulrich Korn, Tobias Korn, Daniel Korn, Adam Benko

2 #448 Thomas Muesekns: Christian Weber, Maximilian Weissermel, Rudolf Brandl, Alexander Müller

3 #445 MSC Adenau: Georg Arbinger, Philip Ade, Joël Le Bihan, Benjamin Lyons

4 #455: Matthias Trinius, Peter Baumann, Thorsten Held, John Lee Schambony

DNC

#440: Mirco Böhmisch, Florian Ebener, Florian Kramer, Andreas Müller

V6

1 #410 MSC Adenau, Porsche Cayman GTS: Stefano Croci, David Ackermann, Scott Marshall, Jérôme Larbi

2 #418 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport, Porsche Cayman 718: Xavier Lamadrid, Cesar Mendieta, Heinz Kroner

DNF

#414, Porsche 911 Carrera: Alexander Köppen, Andreas Schafitzl, Sebastian Rings, Jacek Pydys

#396 Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels, Porsche Cayman S: Klaus Faßbender, Christian Büllesbach, Andreas Schettler, Carlos Arimon