Christian Krognes has been racing the Nordschleife since 2010, winning his way into the GT3 class where since 2016 he’s raced the Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3. The 2018 Nürburgring 24 Hours marks the Norwegian’s first full-pro attack in the twice-around-the-clock, teaming up with former ‘N24’ winner Augusto Farfus, Spa 24 Hours champ Markus Palttala and rising star Fabian Schiller in the Shell-branded, BMW-endorsed M6 GT3. Get the inside scoop from Krognes as he takes you with him into the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring in his daily blogs.
We’re finally here, the 24 Hours of Nürburgring is just around the corner. Even though this is my fourth 24 Hours race on the track, the atmosphere surrounding the event amazes me every time. Since my first VLN race on the Nordschleife in 2010 I drove the same route on my way to Nürburg passing Brünchen and Pflanzgarten, and the way fans get together around the track is the biggest contribution to this event in general. Cut to short you won’t need to go anywhere around here or do anything special to get into the ‘24h’ mood; it’s served wherever you go, and wherever you are on the track – you just know that there’s a big race and party coming up.
I’ve had so many good experiences at this event over the years, yet this year’s effort is something special to me even before we’ve fired up the engines. It’s my third time in the BMW M6 GT3, but my first time in an all-pro line-up with factory drivers Augusto Farfus and Markus Palltala, as well as young and super talented Fabian Schiller. I’ve driven most categories in the VLN from the very smallest ones 7 years ago, working my way up to the GT3s since then – and it can’t be described how it is to have such a strong team around me after all these years. The whole deal actually came together pretty late this year, but my long-time friends at Walkenhorst Motorsport have done flawlessly so far and together we’re aiming for the top positions on Sunday.
As strange as it might sound – now it’s all about forgetting this and putting your mind through the various stages coming the next couple of days. We will continue testing and evolving some areas on the car that worked well during the past races, and generally rank up laps to try out as many setup windows as we can. If the current weather predictions are correct, we’ll have conditions ranging from perfect sunny summer weather to heavy rain showers on Sunday, so we’ll have to find a setup that can handle well in all those situations.
Adding to that, the season so far has been very promising. With new tire partner Yokohama, we’ve achieved some good results already, qualifying third for the first race of the season as well as putting in the fastest lap time of VLN2. The Qualification Race, which was the first effort together with my 24h teammates, also proved to be quite successful as we were always in the top 10 before contact led to a retirement near the end of the race. Overall, I’m confident that we have the material and team to fight for the top positions in this race, so we’re ready to give our absolute best the next couple of days!
Give-away!
Do you want to win this Nürburgring 24 Hours cap signed by Christian Krognes? Tag your friend in one of our ‘N24’ Facebook posts and we’ll pick the winner on Sunday night.
Please consider making a donation so we can keep bringing you our best content from the racetrack.
