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Is there any superlative to describe the last 90 minutes of the 24-hour race 2017? Incomprehensible. Incomprehensible. Pure madness. Rampage of the race god? Anyway, the last 90 minutes of the 24h race were not for people with weak hearts.
Rampage of the racing god
The insane N24 hours 2017
It was exactly 91 minutes and 40 seconds to the end of the race when the drama began. An electronic defect after the penultimate planned pit stop caused the already dramatic race to “explode” - the country Audi with starting number # 29 slowly had to roll over the GrandPrix track and was on the road with no performance. And even if the pit stop that became necessary lasted only seconds - a lead of almost 2 minutes turned into a gap of a good 90 seconds. And of all people the team boss of the then leading WRT-Audi R8 LMS GT3 uttered an old racing driver's wisdom calmly: “Almost 1.5 hours of racing time and anything can happen”. It is the old saying: “To finish first, you have to finish first”.
But the racing god was just beginning to play crazy
While one was already trying to put the drama of the Land-Motorsport Audi R8 into words, the racing god had a lot more plans. It should be the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring when only the sun was shining. A new lap record seemed to be on the horizon. And then came the very dark clouds. And in the last 30 minutes the Eifel showed what “motorsport” really means in the Eifel. You always have to be prepared for the craziest. Always. Even if you had been sunburned for days, you had problems because it was so hot that you had no experience with the tires. 28 minutes before the end of the race, the events rolled over. Rain in Adenau. Rain in Breidscheid. Dry track on the GrandPrix track.
"Land goes all-in"
20 minutes before the end, the leading start number 9, the WRT-R8, opted for slick tires. A fatal decision, as you found out seconds later. And no, actually the country team hadn't planned to fit rain tires at the last stop. Until this pit stop went bad too. Too early release of the R8 racer, push back, keep refueling. And that was the moment when the country troop put everything on one card: RAIN TIRES, while others made the last stop with slick tires only seconds earlier - RENNGOTT without mercy.
And these rain tires were just right! In the last 17 minutes, the green-white R8 plowed through the spray, which had now reached much of the track. In the last 15 minutes, the rain drama was also the finalist for the previous year's winner. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 with start number 1 flew off in the Metzgesfeld area.
15 minutes in which heroes are born
It was the last two laps, good 15 minutes, in which Kelvin van der Linde restored the Land Motorsport Audi R8 GT3 to the lead. From Adenauer Forst to Kesselchen, the Land-R8 has lost over 8 minutes to the leading WRT-R2. 11 minutes before the end slipped the leader in the field Brünnchen the track and also the runner-ROWE-BMW had to fight and 10 minutes before the end put the country on R8 ROWE BMW over. One lap before the end of the WRT Audi comes into the pit lane and Land takes the lead.
With that, the DUNLOP-equipped Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 took the lead - and the racing god finally ran out of madness. What a drama. Adrenaline for everyone involved. And a more than deserved victory for Wolfgang Land's team!
“It's un-fucking-tangible. Sorry for the word, but I can't describe it. Just stood in the pits, two minutes behind, and the guys didn't give up, carried on, found the mistake, fixed it. Many thanks on land, to Audi, to my team-mates. Awesome achievement, I am very proud of our troop! "
Christopher Mies (Country Audi #29, place 1) on the winners podium
The other 23 hours were not boring!
While the Glickenhaus had shown itself from the fastest side in qualifying and had a real firework display in the first 60 minutes, the thirsty Honda V6 turbo did not let the overall performance of the SCG003 drift towards overall victory. Actually, it's a shame, because the dream motorsport group around the brainchild of Jim Glickenhaus in particular deserved more than one pole position.
AMG celebrated 50-year history
On the racetrack, however, it quickly became clear that the AMG festival will not be continued this year. The dominance of the Audi R8 was too intense. While the ROWE-M6 was able to secure second place in the end, it was still visible: The performance of the R8 could not be heard there.
The BMW struggled above all with their Michelin tires. This was also confirmed by the only M6 that did not leave with Michelin tires: the Falken BMW M6. For the French, the ban on “development tires” had left a particularly painful performance gap. The same thing happened to the Mercedes-AMG and the Porsche works vehicles.
It was a drama. It was cool. It was the best advertisement for the coming year!
The last 3.5 hours of the race: