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【NLS(Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) Round5 ／ Nürburgring】
Scherer Sport PHX’s Audi Finishes Second in Its First Race With Yokohama Tire, Team ADVAN x HRT’s Mercedes-AMG in Third Shares Podium With Scherer’s Audi
NLS Round 5
| Date | 19 October 2024 |
|---|---|
| Course | Nürburgring (Germany) |
| Weather | Rain / Fine |
| Surface | Wet / Dry |
| Race Time | 4Hours (1Lap＝24,358m) |
After a two-and-a-half-month break, the fifth and penultimate round of the 2024 NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) was held on Saturday, October 19th, as a four-hour race.
Yokohama Tire has provided its racing tires to Team ADVAN x HRT, which has run Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the SP9 class, the top category in the NLS, so far this year. In addition, an Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2 run by Scherer Sport PHX raced using the Japanese company’s products for the first time in this fifth round. This means that Yokohama Tire is now in cooperation with the winning team of this year’s Nürburgring 24-hour race, held on the first weekend of June, in the battle of NLS.
These Yokohama-shoed cars competed in the SP9 Pro class. Team ADVAN x HRT trusted its sole entry to the trio of Dennis Fetzer, Michele Beretta, and Jusuf Owega. Fetzer had raced together with Yokohama Tire in all NLS rounds and the 24-hour race this year. Owega contributed to the car’s third-place podium finish in the third round. Beretta, a 29-year-old new addition to the team, is a talented driver and has been a regular competitor in the around-the-clock race at Nürburgring since 2020.
Scherer Sport PHX can trace its roots back to Phenix Racing, established in 1999. The team has an impressive track record in a wide variety of racing categories, such as DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) or the FIA GT Championship. It has been one of Audi’s factory-supported teams since 2009. Of course, the team has been active at Nürburgring and has had a strong presence in the 24-hour and NLS rounds.
Scherer Sport PHX’s Audi R8, equipped with Yokohama Tire’s products, was driven by Frank Stippler and Niko Bastian this time. Stippler is a 49-year-old veteran, and his racing career spans more than 30 years. He is a three-time winner of the Nürburgring 24 hours with 15 wins under his belt in NLS rounds, including those in the VLN (the predecessor series of the NLS) era. Bastian has a lot of experience in various touring car races and competed in the ADAC GT Masters in 2014, when Yokohama Tire was the sole tire supplier for the series. The 34-year-old has driven in the 24-hour race at Nürburgring ten times, mainly in the SP9 class, since 2011, but he had never raced in Audi’s GT3 car in the NLS until this time.
The sky was overscast with rain clouds in the early morning hours on Saturday, and the official qualifying session began in the rain. The cars went out to the track for qualifying attempts with their windscreen wipers working busily, and the wet surfaces reflected the light of their headlamps simmering. The day’s low dropped to four degrees centigrade, and the high recorded later in the afternoon was only 11 degrees. Therefore, the weather and track conditions in the session held well before noon were highly challenging.
Nevertheless, Bastian, behind the wheel of Scherer Sport PHX’s Audi, set 9’51″592, which was the second fastest overall at the time, on his second timed lap. And he improved it to 9’47” 320 before handing over the car to Stippler. Since his mission was just to check the track conditions, Stippler drove for a few laps safely until the end of the session as the rain-soaked surfaces being so tricky out there. At the end of the session, they secured the third grid overall.
As for Team ADVAN x HRT’s Mercedes-AMG, Owega started off the qualifying and then changed to Beretta after completing two timed laps. Although both drivers made their best effort, it wasn’t reflected in their lap times, so the crew ended the session in 21st overall and eighth in the SP9 class with the best time of 10’32”122.
The weather didn’t improve much as the time to start the 4-hour race approached. While the rain eased, more than a few people put up their umbrellas on the starting grids. All teams in the SP9 class opted for the wet tires for the first stint, but the condition change during the race was almost unpredictable. However, it was pretty likely that the driving line on the tarmac could become gradually drier as there were as many as 123 cars running in the race had there been no more rain.
After the formation lap, the race went underway with a rolling start. Stippler, the starting driver of the Scherer Sport PHX’s Audi, came up to second by a daring attack at Turn 1. But the close-quarters battle around him on the wet surfaces caused a few collisions, and he immediately dropped to fourth as a result. Even worse, the damaged bodywork of his car came in contact with a tire, so Stippler had to return to the pit garage for repair work at the end of the opening lap.
The unscheduled stop cost them almost three minutes, but they tried to recover tenaciously. Stippler drove for about one hour and a half before changing to Bastian. As the track conditions turned for the bette, Bastian marked the race’s fastest lap, 8’01″545, on Lap 22 and moved up to second. Then, the car was entrusted to the hands of Stippler again for their last stint, and he finished the race in second, bringing it home safely.
Despite starting from the 21st grid, Team ADVAN x HRT had a marvelous recovery under brutal weather and track conditions. Without having any mechanical trouble or being involved in an accident on the track, they came up through the field steadily and finished the race in third as the sun came out from behind the cloud toward the end. Consequently, these two teams, who raced using Yokohama Tire’s products, stood on the second and third steps of the podium at the end of the day.