2022 24 Hours of Nürburgring: Start and DNF.

What makes the 24 Hours of Nürburgring so special are the track (25,378 km full of corners up and down hills), 130 cars from a Dacia Logan to the fastest GT3, the absence of safety car interventions, and the crowd with the typical German discipline and respect.

Imagine 230,000 fans around the track!

At 14:45 the teams pushed the cars on the grid with the crowd invading the grid.

At 15:30, one barely was able to see the cars on the tarmac as the crowd was so packed.

In less than 10’ the start lane was evacuated so that by 15:40, the cars could start the formation lap.

During the formation lap, the spectators formed a guard of honor at the edge of the track. A unique experience for the pilots that are applauded all along the circuit.

At 16:00 sharp the group of SP9 (FIA-homologated Group GT3 cars) and SP-X ( KTM X-Bow GT2 and Glickenhaus SCG 004c) was launched with Ferrari #26 and BMW #99 leading the meute.

As you may read in “AUDI WINS, TRUST TOP 8 WITH MERCEDES-AMG” Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II and Mercedes-AMG GT3 demonstrated reliability and speed with 6 Audi’s out of 7 at the start in the top 14 and 5 Mercedes out of 7 in the top 17 overall. For the other manufacturers present in SP9, it was an accumulation of runway overruns or technical issues.

Aston Martin leader until crash.

Starting from the 13th row of the first race-starting group, Nicky Thiim and Maxime Martin brought the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage to the lead which Marco Sorensen and David Pittard managed to keep during the first quarter of the race until an accident condemned the beautiful and powerful Aston to return to the paddock ... on a truck.

The #90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage made the show with its sound and its legendary drivers impressed the spectators with their speed in the Nordschleife curves.

Two Porsche 911 GT3R out of 8 ended the race.

With #33 Falken and #25 Huber Motorsport ending P9 and P11 respectively, the 2022 edition of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring was the one to forget for the six other Porsche 911 GT3R.

As many drivers say, it is about surviving the first 20 hours. Dinamic Motorsport #29 was the first Porsche 911 GT3R to abandon after 18 laps, followed by #27 Toksport WRT crashed by another car.

Starting from the last row of the first race-starting group as #1 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3R was penalised during Thursday night qualifiers because Kevin Estre did not respect a slow zone. Kevin Estre and Fred Makowiecki brought their last year's winning Porsche from P36 to the lead in the second hour.

At 7:20 pm we saw Laurens Vanthoor (#1 Porsche 911 GT3R) side on side with his brother Dries driving the winning Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II during several fast curves until the wrong maneuver got the #1 spinning and touching the rails very badly. The car was too heavily damaged and Laurens Vanthoor had to walk back to the garage. Michael Christensen had not been able to take the wheel during the race.

After a bit more than 9 hours of racing #44 Falken was the next Porsche 911 GT3R to retire followed four hours later by the second Dinamic Motorsport #28.

KCMG Porsche 911 GT3R #18 suffered a technical issue during the warmup. The mechanics managed to get the car on the grid just on time.

Early on in the race the car faced a technical issue again but Bamber, Tandy and Olsen came back in P9 until an accident just before the end stopped the progression.

Only one BMW M4 GT3 out of 7 to finish the 24 hours race.

#102 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 TG3 ended 47th overall, 26 laps behind the winning Audi, after several repairs.

Early in the morning, the Schubert Motorsport #20 BMW M4 GT3 was fighting with #15 winning Audi for the lead until Alexander Sims had his BMW sliding against the barrier in a curve and progressively lost contact with the lead.

Together with Jens Klingmann and Niklas Krütten they kept within sight of a podium, but around 30 minutes before the finish Jesse Krohn was forced to abandon due to overheating engine.

Despite being in the lead both ROWE Racing had to retire. Sheldon van der Linde crashed #98 Rowe BMW into the barriers in the Bergwerk and Nick Yelloly had to abandon #99 with suspension damage.

The BMW Junior Team in the #72 retired after 13 hours 42’. Dan Harper first collided with a slower car then Max Hesse damaged the car after taking a spin.

Both Walkenhorst Motorsport #100 and #101 had to retire after technical issues.

Both Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo18 did not finish