This year’s 47th running of the Nürburgring 24 hours was memorable for reasons that had little to do with the weather (for a change), unless of course you conclude that the warm dry conditions encouraged even more bravery and commitment from the more than 150 drivers taking part.
It was won by the number-4 car of Team Phoenix racing, driven by Frédéric Vervisch, Dries Vanthoor, Pierre Kaffer and Frank Stippler, the latter of whom won it with Audi in 2012.
But the folks from Ingolstadt didn’t have it all their own way. Despite the number-4 car leading the final 16 laps, three other makes held the top spot throughout an action-packed 24 hours including the pole-sitting Black Falcon AMG-Mercedes GT and the Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R which led for 14 hours straight.
Vervisch crossed the line in exactly 24 hours 8 minutes and 14.647 seconds, at an average speed of 165.1km/h (102.6mph) and completed 157 laps, just short of the absolute distance record of 159 laps set by, yes you guessed it – and Audi R8 – in 2014.
As always, we were there and have chosen 20 of our favourite images to share with you. Enjoy..
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Images: © Kevin Mc Glone (Red Square Images).