It is THE event of the year, which the teams work towards 364 days a year, so that on the 365th day, every last detail is perfect. The 24-hour race on the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife is the „who's who“ of the motorsport world.
24-Hour Qualifying Race 2019, The Final Countdown
The prologue for the 24-hour race took place on May 18th/19th and lasted for six hours. For the teams, it was the last opportunity for fine-tuning man and machine before facing the great challenge of the ADAC TOTAL 24h Race from June 20th to 23rd. Qualifying 1, in particular, offered drivers a 24-hour race in mini-format, as it lasted until dusk and provided a taste of the longest race of the season. For the participants of this race, whose roster is almost identical to that of the VLN, the first free practice session on the combined circuit began on Saturday at 12:15 PM. 99 vehicles were registered for the qualifying race, including top teams such as BMW Team Schnitzer, Manthey Racing, Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon, and Audi Sport Team Phoenix. The field ranged from VW Golf 5s to powerful machines like the Porsche 911 GT3 R. It became clear even during the qualifying race what all this effort was for, from setup drives to the final touches on the configuration – there was no trace of testing mode.
After the successful qualifying race, the top starting positions were set. Walkenhorst Motorsport, with drivers Christian Krognes, David Pittard, and Nicholas Yelloly, set the pace. They secured pole position with their BMW M6 GT3 and a best time of 8:19.081 minutes. Following them, ROWE Racing with drivers Krohn/Edwards, also in a BMW M6 GT3, took second place with a best time of 8:20.584. „This is a dream, it's incredible,“ enthused team boss Henry Walkenhorst. „All three drivers did a fantastic job. Now the highlight, the 24h race, is just around the corner. We will use this success to deliver there as well. We can hardly wait,“ added team boss Henry Walkenhorst. BMW Group Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt also looked ahead optimistically to the 24h race after the success in the 24h qualifying race: „The 20th overall victory at the Nürburgring 24h race is once again one of our major goals this endurance racing season. We have been very close in recent years, but always lacked that final bit of luck. So you could say: We still have unfinished business with the ‚Green Hell’.“
24h Race 2019
Even just walking up the arduous climb to the pit lane at the Lindner Hotel, one immediately noticed the enormous effort teams put into this one race a year – motorhome after motorhome. But once you reach the center of the pit lane, you can't help but be amazed, despite the familiar surroundings. Meticulous detail work, pure passion, and a lot of emotion come together here. Nothing works without passion here... On the Nordschleife alone, drivers have to navigate 73 corners over 20.832 kilometers, 33 left and 40 right. With the 24-hour race variant, which combines the Grand Prix circuit and the Nordschleife, there are 40 left turns and 47 right turns that the drivers had to tackle with utmost concentration in every corner – 25.378 km of pure adrenaline.
The grueling 24:08:14.647 hour battle was a dream come true for Audi Sport Team Phoenix. Pierre Kaffer, Frank Stippler, Frederic Vervisch, and Dries Vanthoor didn't have to hide after their nearly flawless race with a best time of 8:20.825 minutes on the 152nd lap. The popular Manthey Porsche with start number 911 and drivers Bamber/Christensen/Estre/L. Vanthoor finished in second place but was subsequently disqualified. „The engine of our inspected vehicle 911 met all homologation requirements,“ stated Manthey regarding the fraud accusation. „Only the performance value calculated by the ADAC technical committee did not match the specified and used restrictor size of 2 x 34.6 millimeters in diameter. We must admit that we did not check the plausibility of this value, calculated by the organizer, on the performance test bench in Weissach or on our roller test bench in Meuspath. We accept the verdict.“ The Mercedes AMG Team Black Falcon with start number 3 rubbed its hands with joy as they moved up to second place overall, having originally finished third. Audi Sport Team Car Collection with drivers Markus Winkelhock, Christopher Haase, Marcel Fässler, and René Rast also completed the podium of the spectacular race.
Overall third: the Audi R 8 LMS with Winkelhock/Haase/Fässler/Rast 
Disqualified: The Manthey Porsche with Bamber/Christensen/Estre/L. Vanthoor
A blessing in disguise
In the Adrenalin Motorsport box with drivers Daniel Zils, Norbert Fischer, Yannick Fübrich, and Oskar Sandberg in the #240 BMW M240, events were piling up. As early as Thursday, the drivers were unable to gain any experience in free practice because a new gearbox was being installed. According to the chief mechanic, the gears were no longer engaging properly. But luckily, BMW Motorsport was on-site to provide support. When another problem occurred and the second new gearbox was installed, free practice was over. The teammates had a big advantage over the Norwegian VLN driver Oskar Sandberg. Sandberg was driving the BMW M240 for the first time in qualifying. However, the experienced VLN driver quickly got used to the car and, due to his speed, drove a double stint that very night. The Pixum Team from Adrenalin Motorsport managed to hold the lead in the P1 class throughout the entire race, but struggled with electronic issues in the cockpit. The BMW's ESP was completely deactivated, and the racing ABS also wasn't functioning properly. In the last four hours, bad luck struck again. „The gears were so difficult to engage, I felt like someone was hitting the gearbox with a hammer,“ reported Sandberg. „The gearbox shifted into automatic mode by itself, and on the ‚Döttinger Höhe,‘ I felt like I was driving in Eco-Drive.“
Despite all the challenges in the cockpit, the pilots managed to bring the trophy home for the Adrenalin Motorsport team.
