Walkenhorst Motorsport came within touching distance of second place in the 2026 ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring 24 Hours, only for a late Code 60 on the final lap to drop the #34 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 behind the recovering ABT Lamborghini. Despite the disappointment of losing P2 in the closing moments, Christian Krognes described the podium finish as “surreal” after a race where the team never truly expected to fight at the front.
Krognes, Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim and Felipe Fernandez Laser secured third place overall for Walkenhorst Motorsport after staying in contention throughout a chaotic and demanding Nürburgring 24 Hours.
“It’s pretty surreal just to be on the podium,” Krognes told GT REPORT after the finish. “When we had our hands around the second place trophy, it’s a bit disappointing. It’s a very isolated disappointment, let’s say. Overall, we are super happy to be P3.”
The Norwegian admitted Walkenhorst Motorsport arrived at the Nordschleife with uncertainty around their package and did not expect to spend so much of the race battling near the front.
“We had a bit of an unknown package coming into the weekend,” he explained. “We did not really expect to be here, especially to fight for a podium for a long time.”
Surviving the early Nürburgring madness
While the final result looked calm on paper, Krognes described the opening phase of the race as one of the most hectic starts to a 24-hour race he had ever experienced.
“We just had to keep our noses clean for the first part of the race and avoid getting caught in all that fighting,” Krognes said. “I’ve never seen that much happening in the first part of a 24-hour race.
“It was a mental challenge to try and stay calm, but we managed to.”
Krognes explained that experience from previous endurance races helped him stay patient while chaos unfolded around the circuit.
“We just tried to think about our own race the whole time,” the 2018 Spa 24 Hours winner said. “Luckily now I’ve done a couple of 24 hours already and know that things might come to you later, even if you’re not really pulling your rhythm at the start.”
The relentless opening phase around the Nordschleife also left the drivers mentally exhausted long before the race had even settled into its rhythm.
“I was happy when I got into the car for the midnight shift that the race seemed a bit more calm,” Krognes admitted. “My first stint was extremely hectic.”
The Norwegian found himself heavily involved in battles during his stints, including fights with Dennis Olsen and later Max Verstappen as the leading group constantly shuffled positions.
“At first I was fighting a lot with Dennis. Then Max also joined in later on,” Krognes explained.
Despite the wild opening hours, Walkenhorst Motorsport gradually settled into the race once darkness arrived at the Nordschleife.
“From midnight, the race sort of ebbed into more of a natural race,” he said. “Then we seemed to have pace — not to stay with the Mercedes, they were outstanding — but we could sort of keep up with the rest of the pack and stay ahead in P3 for a long while. And then it was just flat out the complete rest of the race.
“Sometimes you just need to be patient and wait for your opportunity and your rhythm to come.”
Fuel strategy
The Aston Martin squad also faced a constant strategic balancing act with fuel consumption throughout the race. Walkenhorst Motorsport repeatedly tried to stretch the car to eight laps per stint, but often found themselves just short and forced to pit after seven laps instead.
“We had to fuel save a bit and try to stay on strategy for eight laps, but mostly had to do seven laps,” Krognes explained. “That was a bit nail-biting.”
Even so, Krognes praised the team for continuously adapting the strategy as the weather and race situation evolved around them.
“The team really had their hands around strategy,” he said. “It’s incredible how much work goes into this and several heads working together to see how it’s going to end up, even with the weather changing everything.”
“You need to be there to pick up the pieces”
Although Walkenhorst Motorsport remained firmly in podium contention, Krognes admitted the Mercedes-AMG and Lamborghini packages appeared to have an advantage throughout the event.
“We saw pretty early on that Mercedes and Lamborghini were quite a long way ahead of the rest of the field,” he said. “We were with the rest of the field, but the Lambo and the Mercedes were just a little bit ahead of everyone. So hats off to them.”
Despite that, the Norwegian stressed that endurance racing at the Nürburgring is often decided by patience and simply staying in contention until opportunities appear.
“You cannot think too much about that,” Krognes said. “You just have to fight.”
“And as we saw today, you might have a driveshaft failure, and then you need to be there to pick up the pieces.”
That opportunity almost arrived in the closing stages after the leading Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 dropped out of contention with technical issues, promoting the Aston Martin further up the order.
At the same time, the #84 ABT Lamborghini was carrying a lengthy post-race time penalty, leaving Mattia Drudi effectively chasing the gap needed to move the Aston Martin ahead once the Lamborghini’s penalty was taken into account.
Drudi mounted a late push for second place in the final laps, but a late Code 60 zone on Döttinger Höhe in the closing metres of the race cost the Aston Martin crucial time and ultimately secured second place for the Lamborghini instead.
“Mattia put everything out there,” Krognes said. “I’m sure he was very close several times to having some moments, as we all did. It’s a shame to be stopped by a traffic jam, but it is what it is.”
Despite narrowly missing out on second place, Krognes still left the Nürburgring with a smile — and a trophy he already had plans for.
“It’s a great beer glass, to be honest,” he laughed. “I’m sure it will be used for something like that.”
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