What a heartbeat finale at the 44th ADAC Zurich 24h Race Nürburgring! We congratulate the Mercedes teams, which took over the entire podium with their Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3.
The fastest and best-placed Porsche was the Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (starting number 44) with Peter Dumbreck, Wolf Henzler, Martin Ragginger and Alexandre Imperatori on the ninth overall place with its KW competition 3-way racing suspension.
On place 13 and 15 followed the Wochenspiegel Team Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (starting number 21) and Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R with the starting number 12.
We from KW are thrilled about the performance of our numerous customer teams at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, finally our teams reached 14 class wins out of 25 classes!
This year the “Green Hell” was shown by its most insidious side!
It took not even 45 minutes for the weather to change the race track at the section “Fuchsröhre” within minutes into a sliding track through heavy rain and hail storm.
Later, even in the paddock it looked not much better. Fortunately for the WTCC presented by KW that the pouring rain began just after the two races of the World Touring Car Championship. Even despite the fact that the ADAC 24h Classics almost drowned, the legendary classics also did a great job.
Also the fans at the track suffered not only with the teams, but they were also victims of the heavy rain and hail storm.
While some built a “Hail-men”, others heated themselves up in their pools filled with more than 36°C warm water in the section Breitscheid.
The race was interrupted for about three hours and after the restart the Nordschleife was mostly spared from the freak weather.
So even the Nordschleife enthusiasts could laugh again and changed the night to day just like at every 24-hour race.
Class victory on KW in the AT class
The British-American Motorsport team Saxon Motorsport was also in 2016 on the track with a brachial BMW 135d GTR on a KW Competition suspension and was able to prevail again in their class with Nick Barrow, Dave Cox, Ric Shaw and Jamie Morrow. In 24:05:07.643 hours they piloted their 1-series 108 laps over the track. Their fastest lap they already had in the second round with 9:46.712 minutes.
Class victory on KW in the CUP 3 class
Four starts and four (class)victories – also at the 24-hour race, our KW Competition partner Raceunion Teichmann Racing with their Porsche 981 GT4 Clubsport remain unbeaten in its class. Hans Holmlund, Tommy Graberg, Scott Marshall and Moritz Gusenbauer drove over the finish line as class winner after 118 laps. In round 61, they had their fastest lap with 9:21,015 minutes.
Class victory on KW in the CUP 5 class
In the class CUP 5, everybody fought with the same means: a BMW M235i Racing with KW Competition racing suspension. The BMW of Bonk Motorsport with the drivers Michael Schrey, Alexander Mies, Emin Akata and Dries Vanthoor prevailed in the strongly occupied class. The four were fastest in round 65 (9:32.198 minutes) and after 120 laps (24:15:14,618 hours) they reached the finish line as first placed and on the 25th place in the overall class segment!
Class victory on KW in the SP 10 class
With their Aston Martin Vantage V8, the by Mathol Racing supported STADAvita Racing Team drove after 79 rounds (24:01:59,745 hours) to the top in the class SP 10. The followers of Jean-Louis Hertenstein, Scott Preacher, “Takis” and Markus Lungstrass were a victim of the “Green Hell”. The Aston Martin plowed in round 62 in 9:29.051 minutes over the complete track and reached an average speed of 160.549 km/h.
Class victory on KW in the SP 2T class
Hyundai Motor Germany celebrated again a class victory at the 44th ADAC Zurich 24h Race Nürburgring. The Hyundai Veloster 1.6T with the pilots Joachim Kisch, Jürgen Nett, Timo Schupp and Alexander Köppen reached the finish line with five laps ahead in its class after 104 laps (23:57:15,600 hours). Right before the end of the race, the Veloster that is also equipped with a KW Competition racing suspension reached its fastest lap time in round 98 with 10:18,152 minutes.
Class victory on KW in the SP 6 class
After 114 laps and a total time of 23:59:11.604 hours, the drivers David Ackermann, Carsten Welschar, Jörg Wiskirchen and Csaba Walter in their Porsche GT3 Cup of rent2Drive-racing celebrated their SP-6-class victory. Already in the first rounds, the four drove to attack and already in the third round they speeded in their GT3 Cup Porsche in 9:13.560 minutes over the Grand Prix circuit and the Nordschleife.
Class victory on KW in the SP 8
Fast on the track was TC-R & Vetter Motorsport with their BMW M3 E92. Their fast M3 was driven by the four drivers Philipp Göschel, Dirk Heldmann, Rolf Schreibner and Frank Weishar at a total of 110 laps (23:58:27,184 hours) through the “Green Hell”. The fastest lap of the BMW Coupé was already at the beginning and before the weather chaos started. In only 9:23.638 minutes, the M3 drove away from hail and heavy rain in the third round.
Class victory on KW in the SP 8T
And another class victory was reached by the KW Competition Customer Team TC-R Vetter Motorsport. In the class SP 8T, the team of Hans-Martin Gass, Heiko Hahn, Roland Konrad and Kristian Vetter has driven the BMW 1-series Coupé in 108 rounds (24:01:28.651 hours) over the Grand Prix circuit and Nordschleife. The E82 with the starting number 47 drove in lap 101 its fastest time. To bring an “old” 1-series in a race in 9:32.209 minutes over a distance of 25,378 km is a great job.
Class victory on KW in the SP-X
Masterfully and without major injuries convinced the Porsche Cayman GT4 of Manthey Racing in the class SP-X. In addition to the German magazine “sport auto” editor Christian Gebhardt and Christoph Breuer of Raeder Motorsport, also the Porsche’s test- and development driver Lars Kern was among the drivers of the GT4. In the current “sport auto” (issue 6 of 13 May 2016) and “auto motor und sport” (issue 12 of 26 May 2016), the Cayman GT4 is presented in detail. The fastest trio drove 121 laps (24:06:38.595 hours) through the “Green Hell” and had their fastest lap in round 69 with 9:10.908 minutes. Short side note, the Manthey Cayman was 23rd in the overall standings!
Class victory on KW in the TCR
For the first time at the ADAC Zurich 24h Race Nürburgring, also Touring Cars of the TCR category participated. In the third round, the Seat Leon TCR with the starting number 201 provided already its fastest lap (9:17,683 minutes) and was faster than the sister car with starting number 202. As one of the first victims of heavy rain and hailstorm in the Fuchsröhre, the Seat Leon TCR (starting number 201) wrote headlines. After a total breakdown, Mathilda Racing – Team Pistenkids repaired with the support of Seat Spain the race car in record time. Subsequently, the Spanish racing driver Jordi Gené (brother of the former F1 driver Marc Gené), Georg Niederberger, Andreas Guelden and Jürgen Wohlfarth did everything possible to finish the race. After 116 laps the four drivers were determined as class winner and reached the 33rd place of the overall rankings.
Class victory on KW in the V 3T
Also Race-House Motorsport with their BMW M235i and the drivers Dag Garrel, Carsten Ohlinger and Meyrick Cox did a great job. As an individual fighter in their class and after a long repair brake, the task was to arrive safely. The mission was a success and after 23:57:11,167 hours, the BMW crossed the finish line as class winner.
Class victory on KW in the V 4
In the production car class V4 up to 2500 ccm, the BMW E90 of Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport established with one lap ahead before the Team AutoArena Motorsport Mercedes-Benz C230. The drivers Christopher Rink, Danny Brink, Gariele Piana and Niklas Steinhaus ensured the fastest lap time (10:21.222 minutes) of their class in the 99th round.
Class victory on KW in the V 5
Albert Egbert, Maik Rönnefarth and Michael Hollerweger of Schmickler Performance also reached a class win as KW Competition customer team. The BMW 330i on E90 platform struggled 23:56:46.733 hours through the “Green Hell”.
Class victory on KW in the V2T
That a Renault Mégane RS is also at home on the Nordschleife was proven by Axel Jahn, Andrei Sidorenko, Florian Quante and Bernd Kleeschulte of rent2Drive-racing. In the 76th round, the team drove their fastest lap (10:13.833 minutes) and finished the race after 108 rounds (23:56:50.579 hours) as the class winner.
Two action-packed FIA WTCC races in the “Green Hell”
But before the 24-hour race started, the FIA WTCC presented by KW was held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife as already the year before.
And even at the two WTCC races, the “Green Hell” was true to its name once again – and even without rain!
Photos Group C, KW, FIA WTCC
