The 54th ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring is underway and it promises to be a spectacular edition. With 41 GT3 cars the grid is absolutely stacked with the best line-ups. GT REPORT looks ahead to the race with specialists Raffaele Marciello, Laurent Vanthoor, Harry King and Christopher Haase.
BMW is set to defend their ‘title run’, as the marque from München aims to expand the record to 22 wins this year. Marciello, part of the #1 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo, hopes the weather gods will be friendly for all drivers participating.
“It’s nice to be back, the car felt good, but we really don’t know where we are until Saturday or even Sunday morning. I think the BMW is not the best car in the wet, I have to be honest, but Michelin are pretty strong,” Marciello refers to the tyre manufacturer they will be using.
“I actually never drove the car in the wet [during the N24], the last time was always dry”, he adds. The Swiss driver is in the fan-favourite BMW car, but he doesn’t feel any added pressure: “You feel more pressure when you have to perform! Luckily we won the race last year. I achieved that dream, and now you feel a little more relaxed.”
He knows that a lot of manufacturers want to steal BMW’s spotlight this year. “Normally we try to stay in the front, so we don’t really see how many cars are there,” he laughs. “It’s amazing. GT3 is growing every year. I think it’s a combination of factors. The level is so high, but when you win against the best drivers, it’s even better.”
King debutes on The Green Hell
In the SP9 Pro-Am class, Harry King will aim to continue his Porsche momentum into his N24 debut. Between a busy ELMS and IMSA campaign – and a succesfull side quest in Italian GT- he managed to squeeze in an NLS3 weekend to get his license to compete during the endurance classic in the Eifel. He’ll be steering the #86 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo around the Nordschleife soon.
“It’s very unique, as I only got my permit a couple of weeks ago,” King tells GT REPORT before the race start. “I’m not very experienced on the circuit, I’ve only done three laps in three practices in the GT3 R, so the race will be a learning curve.”
The Brit can lean on his team, High Class Racing, for sure: “I’m in a fantastic team, with fantastic teammates. Anders Fjordbach has a huge amount of experience here. I’m learning from him and I’m sure by midway through the race we’ll be bang on it.”
“We’ve got a good package with the Michelin tyre and support from Manthey Racing, so it’s just a case of delivering and not making any mistakes,” he adds. It looks like it will be an edition with a typical Nordschleife flair of some rain and sun – possibly even at the same time.
King will experience driving in the dark tonight, maybe in tricky conditions, as well. “When it get’s dark here, it get’s really dark. I would be grateful if it’s dry when it’s dark, but I’m sure it will be pretty wet. We just need to make the right tyre calls, the right strategy. You don’t want to be caught out with the wrong tyre on. Let’s see what happens.”
Vanthoor on the prowl with Lionspeed GP
Where King managed to get his license relatively last minute, the complete Nordschleife programme came together very late for Porsche Works Driver Laurens Vanthoor as well. He admits they didn’t have the best preparation, but he, Laurin Heinrich and Riccardo Feller work very hard – just like Lionspeed GP.
“We look a bit like the underdog for now,” Vanthoor says. “I think it gives a lot of motivation to put in the work,” he continues about the #24 Porsche 911 GT3 Evo. As he’s competing in IMSA this season, there haven’t been a lot of opportunities to really get some preparation in.
“The reality is that this isn’t really my main programme,” Vanthoor says. “I can’t really call it a sidequest, but that’s actually what it is.” He was set to drive NLS1, but that race got cancelled due to the weather. “It’s not ideal, but we’ll see what we can do.”
Last year, the Belgian driver had a severe crash in the Top Qualifying sessions. He leaves it behind him going into this weekend. “The crash last year was the first time that I thought: I was lucky [to be unhurt]. It’s not my favourite corner of the circuit anymore,” he adds with a hint of humour.
Vanthoor still thinks the Nordschleife is a circuit like no other. “It’s one of those tracks that gives you the best adrenaline kick. There’s not much room for error. If you drive the car on the limit here, it really gives you a kick.”
Haase hopes it stays dry
GT REPORT also previewed with Haase, who started the N24 in P3. He was more than satisfied about the drivability of the #16 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II – after not feeling like the set-up on the rear of the car was optimized during the N24 Qualifiers.
“The car is very good to drive, it’s very stable,” Haase says. “If we can keep that kind of balance throughout the race with different conditions, I would be very, very happy.” He points out that the balance is party weather dependent: “When it’s colder, you automatically have a little less grip and then the problem gets worse, which is the rear for us.”
“It was cold during Top Qualifying and I have to say that it was fine. When it’s warmer you automatically pick up a little bit more understeer, because you have less downforce and so on, but I feel like it should be in a good range. The problem of our car is mixed conditions and drizzle,” he says.
“In the rain we won’t have the pace of Porsche and Mercedes, but I will do everything and go as fast in my R8 as I can.”
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