Former Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Champion, Jaxon Evans (2018) and double 24 Hour of Le Mans winner, Earl Bamber, will contest this year’s Nurburgring 24-Hour race this coming weekend.
Porsche and its customer teams will make a bid for overall victory with eight 911 GT3 R in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. Manthey contests the tradition-steeped race as the defending champion. The Eifel marathon celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and is regarded as one of the world’s toughest motorsport challenges.
One 25.378-kilometre lap is a combination of the Nordschleife and the Grand Prix circuit. Once again, Porsche racing cars make up the lion’s share of the grid: 46 vehicles from the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer will tackle the endurance classic at 4 pm (CEST) this coming Saturday. No other manufacturer is better represented in the 138-strong field.
Last year, the Manthey customer squad notched up its seventh outright victory at the Eifel classic. Sharing driving duties in the 911 GT3 R “Grello” were the works drivers Kévin Estre (France) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) as well as Matteo Cairoli (Italy).
For this year’s 24-hour anniversary event, the record-winners from Meuspath has again put together a formidable crew in their No. 1 car: Estre and Christensen share the green and yellow racer with their factory driver colleagues Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium). In addition to Manthey, the customer teams Huber Motorsport, KCMG and Toksport WRT each field a GT3 vehicle from Weissach. Dinamic Motorsport and Falken Motorsports campaign two of the 500+PS Nine-Elevens each.
“The ‘Green Hell’ has made our preparations for the 24-hour race difficult again this year: the cancellation of the second round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series and one of the test days due to icy and wet conditions cost us critical track time. In such situations, it becomes even more important to work closely with the teams and share information,” explains Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R.
“Our first priority is that more Porsches make it into the decisive Top Qualifying. Spectators are finally allowed back to the track, so we’re all very much looking forward to the first highlight of the race weekend – the individual time trials.”
At the previous two qualification races for the Nürburgring 24-hour race as well as the first two rounds of the Nürburgring Endurance Series, competitors got the chance to jump straight into the final individual time trials for the top 19 grid positions: just like the 911 GT3 R from Manthey and Huber Motorsport, which have already secured a spot on the provisional entry list for the critical second part of the Top Qualifying.
In the Top-Qualifying 1 session, the two Porsche fielded by Dinamic Motorsport and Falken Motorsports as well as the KCMG and Toksport WRT customer teams still have a chance to grab a place in the final shootout. In the two Top Qualifying segments on Friday evening, the name of the game for all competitors is to make the most of the free run over two timed laps on the legendary Nürburgring-Nordschleife to set their best time.
Manthey (Porsche 911 GT3 R #1)
Michael Christensen (DK), Kévin Estre (F), Frédéric Makowiecki (F), Laurens Vanthoor (B)
KCMG (Porsche 911 GT3 R #18)
Dennis Olsen (N), Josh Burdon (AUS), Nick Tandy (GB), Earl Bamber (NZ)
Huber Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R #25)
Nico Menzel (D), Joachim Thyssen (D), Klaus Rader (D), Lars Kern (D)
Toksport WRT (Porsche 911 GT3 R #27)
Julien Andlauer (F), Matt Campbell (AUS), Mathieu Jaminet (F)
Dinamic Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R #28)
Christian Engelhart (D), Matteo Cairoli (I), Côme Ledogar (F), Thomas Preining (A)
Dinamic Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R #29)
Matteo Cairoli (I), Adrien de Leener (B), Frederik Schandorff (DK), Christian Engelhart (D)
Falken Motorsports (Porsche 911 GT3 R #33)
Jaxon Evans (NZ), Sven Müller (D), Patrick Pilet (F), Marco Seefried (D)
Falken Motorsports (Porsche 911 GT3 R #44)
Klaus Bachler (A), Alessio Picariello (B), Patrick Pilet (F), Martin Ragginger (A)
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