Monday 11th June 2007

Porsche wins the Nurburgring 24 Hour race

Manthey RSR beats the competition and the weather

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The winning Porsche

Manthey Motors scored a commanding victory at the weekend in the 2007 Nurburgring 24 hour race, repeating their success of the previous year.

The winning Porsche 997 GT3 RSR driven by Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Marcel Tiemann battled through fierce weather in the race having claimed pole position with a lap of 8m39.560 (using a section of the modern circuit and the Nordschleife).

The start was delayed due to an epic thunderstorm, and the race halted in the early hours of Sunday morning when dense fog descended on the mountains. The race eventually ended at 5pm on Sunday.

The Aston Martin DBRS9 of Phoenix Racing was quick all weekend - and actually claimed pole in the first qualifying session - but retired from fourth position on Sunday morning with engine problems.

It wasn't always this sunny...

The Zakspeed Viper GTS-R finished in second spot, with the Land Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3 RSR ending up third after an eventful race; after the restart it clashed with the leader and damaged a radiator which required a lengthy pitstop to replace.

Click here for full results

[Beefmeister]

I see Autocar's Chris Harris didn't do too well, looks like they didn't finish the race. Harsh.

[bobthemonkey]

Didn't he win/almost win it one year in a Seven.

[Jungles]

A BMW 130i placed 10th! They must have driven it to the absolute max!

Nice to see an Aussie/NZ entry at 12th.

[adam towler]

Poor Harris and team had a tough weekend, with an accident and mechanical woes.

Look out for a full PH feature later this week.

AT
Ed

[mchammer89]

bobthemonkey said:

Didn't he win/almost win it one year in a Seven.

Are they still banned from the race?

[Dr S]

Congrats to Manthey.

Just to point out that Alzen's Cayman finished 4th. This points at the car's potential

http://adac.24h-rennen.de/live/ergebnisse/ergebnis...

[legaleagleboy]

I thought the live video streaming was excellent BUT with the German commentary muted! John Hindhough and the Radio Lemans team then provided an alternative in English - they did a great job. (now if only we could get live streaming for Lemans?)

That Manthey car and their drivers did an amazing job - to keep the fastest car out of trouble in the wet and the fog was a result in itself. I see Sabine did not finish.

Yes the Golf in 8th, followed by the Astra & the 130i were all amazing -- to get to those positions with +220 starting is a result.

[Ahonen]

Dr S said:

Just to point out that Alzen's Cayman finished 4th. This points at the car's potential

http://adac.24h-rennen.de/live/ergebnisse/ergebnis...

A brilliant result considering the car hadn't managed to complete more than about 10 consecutive laps in all the VLN races this year. I wonder what times it could do on Michelin tyres instead of the Hankook ones it uses. I'm sure they're getting a good deal with Hankook, but I'd hazard a guess they're not the best tyres out there.

[Agoogy]

You have to check out the other finishers list, some amazing machines in there...

BMW 120d
Fiesta
Sirion
Hyundai coupe
Alfa 147d
Manta

All the greats, fantatsic well done to them

[Dunk76]

Agoogy said:

Manta

Twas the fox tail I believe

Edited by Dunk76 on Monday 11th June 17:05

[flattotheboards]

congrats to the manthey team, their car looks superb as well.

[adam towler]

flattotheboards said:

congrats to the manthey team, their car looks superb as well.

You should hear it as well...

AT
Editor

[TRACKDEMON]

Looks like one of PH's resident racers had a worse weekend!:

Phil Bennett in the Impeza WRC last

[bad_roo]

The weather looked brutal when I logged onto the live feed. Respect to anyone driving in that. I just kept getting 'UNFALL' bulletins flashing up all the time.

[900T-R]

bad_roo said:

The weather looked brutal when I logged onto the live feed. Respect to anyone driving in that. I just kept getting 'UNFALL' bulletins flashing up all the time.

In that light, 157 teams in the final classification out of 220-odd started, is one hell of an achievement.

[Regional]

The weather was brutal, i had to do a tyre change in the thunderstorm whilst our cars sat on the grid (Mazda RX7 and Alfa 147 JTD)I got p1ssed on royally.
Race was delayed due to a mud slide on the Nordschleife.

[Joe911]

adam towler said:

Poor Harris and team had a tough weekend, with an accident and mechanical woes.

[sdd]

err....144th place in a BMW 1 series............Bugs Bunny?

[Graham]

Great fun, my first time at the ring, and I'll def be back maybe even racing at some point.

we managed to avoid the rain at the start as we stopped at the hotel by the bridge in Adenu for lunch and to watch the start... had to do a runner inside as the rain came down. The mud slide and the rain in the campsites was unreal...


Then the Fog was something else. stood by the edge of the gp circuit the track would be clear and then I couldnt even see it stood at the fence....


Be respect to the guys out there...


Saw some pics of the Swift rolling.. I bet he went home kisses the wife and bought a lottery ticket !!!

we stayed mainly at the GP circuit, but did go round to the main circuit, awesome. just a good job there was no public lapping on monday or we'd have been round.

still only took 9 hours from the museum at the gp circut to home in worcestershire.. including 2 stops for fuel, one stop for food, and the ferry !!!!!

those MG ZT 260's are quite fun... air con's crap though....

[Kawasicki]

It's great fun. I'm racing a clio cup there this year. I raced an 80's 3 series there last year, see my profile. Did a Suzuki Swift have an accident then? If it's the one I know it is a well known car 'round there!

In the wet it is crazy slippy at times. last year I had huge wheelspin in 5th at 130mph with about a third throttle, in a straight line! Weird, and disturbing.

shane