2024 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers Race1 Report

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• 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers Race1 Report

The Nürburgring 24-hour race, which continues to fascinate racing drivers worldwide, will take place on Saturday, June 1st, to Sunday, June 2nd, this year. Before this big stage, Qualifiers (the qualifying races) were scheduled on Saturday, April 13th, and Sunday, April 14th, and Race 1 of Qualifiers was held on Saturday.

Qualifiers comprised of two 4-hour races on the same weekend are included in NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) this year. Each of the two races was run during different hours of the day, and the first one started at 17:30 and ended at 21:30, which meant the race included night drive hours.

For the prospective competitors of the 24-hour race, these were precious opportunities to drive around Nordschleife as a rehearsal. Therefore, the SP9 class for the fastest cars in the field attracted 27 entries for the Qualifiers’ Race 1.

One of the 27 cars was the Mercedes AMG GT3 run by Team ADVAN x HRT, the new partnership between Yokohama Tire and Haupt Racing Team, which also competes in NLS. The team’s FIA GT3 car showed its speed in the season-opening doubleheader held a week before the Qualifiers.

The SP9 class is divided into three subclasses, according to each car’s driver lineup, and Team ADVAN x HRT falls into the SP9 Pro-Am class as a mixed crew of professional and gentleman drivers. Seven out of 27 SP9 competitors were classified as the SP9 Pro-Am in this race, running a variety of vehicle models, such as the Porsche 911 GT3R, Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 E, and Mercedes AMG GT3.

The teams can appoint a maximum of four drivers for a car, but Team ADVAN x HRT formed a three-driver lineup for this event. Hubert Haupt, the team owner, and Dennis Fetzer, a promising 22-year-old driver, already drove the car in the season’s opening events, and Salman Owega joined them this time.

The two-hour qualifying session began at 10:00. Team ADVAN x HRT did four attack laps, and their best lap time was 8’25″714, set by Fezter. With this time, the team secured the 21st grid overall—the 20th in the SP9 class.

The starting time of Qualifiers’ Race 1 was 17:30, so the sun would set in the second half, and the finishers would see the checkered flag in the dark of night. The pit exit opened at 16:40, and the competitors took to their starting grids. With the air temperature at 19 degrees centigrade 30 minutes before the start, the weather was fine, and the track surfaces were dry. It seemed unlikely to have rain before the finish.

After the formation lap, the 4-hour race commenced at 17:30 as scheduled. As one of the SP9 Pro class cars returned to the pit at the end of the formation lap, Team ADVAN x HRT automatically gained a position and ended the first lap in 19th place in the SP9 class.

Behind the car’s wheel at the start, Haupt set his personal best lap time, 8’22″261, on Lap 4 and came back to the pit after completing Lap 7 when the race’s first hour was about to elapse. The team’s work at the stop went smoothly, and Owega left the box after about four minutes. While some rivals were forced to slow down due to tire problems, his drive was solid and consistent.

The SP9 cars made their second pit stop one after another around the halfway point of the race, the end of the first two hours. Owega came into the pit on Lap 15, one lap later than his direct rivals in the SP9 Pro-Am class, the no.24 Porsche 911 GT3R and the no.50 Aude R8 LMS GT3 Evo. After handing the car to Fetzer, Owega told an interviewer, “It was my first stint in a GT3 car on this track. That was breathtaking. It was an honor to drive here, and I’m already looking forward to the next time. This weekend has been all about collecting data and further developing the tires “

The race entered its second half, and the sun set at 20:34. The lines drawn by the bluish-white headlights and bright red tail lamps of race cars beautifully illuminated the forest of Eifel. As it is often said that devils live in the darkness of Nürburgring, some accidents happened on the track, which caused the speed limit sections to be set.

The temperatures dropped at night, and the pit crew and spectators on the trackside began to wear windproof jackets to stay warm. On Lap 21, about three hours into the race, Fetzer set the second fastest time in the SP9 class and returned to the pit at 20:57 when he completed Lap 23. After the routine work at the box, Fetzer went out to the track again to drive for the final stint. He steadily drove until the checkered flag fell, and Team ADVAN x HRT secured the SP9 Pro-Am class victory, leading the second-place finisher by a lap.