BMW Expressions at 24 H. Nurburgring 2011.

Pictures from the BMW # 1 at the 24 Hour Nurburgring 2011, this car was P1 at the 2010 24 Hours Nurburgring.

Photos: Nacho Hernandez for AmigosRacing.

The VLN is continuously moving forward

The start of the VLN endurance racing championship season 2011 at the Nürburgring was full of attractions. Anybody assuming that this cannot be further topped will have to change his mind on 30th April. The 36th DMV 4 Hour Race organise by the Renngemeinschaft Düren will be a motor sport festival fort he whole family. The second round of the most popular endurance racing series in Europe will come up with not less than three true world premieres: For the first time ever, Hans-Joachim Stuck will contest a race in a team with his two sons Johannes and Ferdinand. Furthermore, two spectacular race cars will make their debut: the big Golf24 of Volkswagen as well as the 2,0 variant of the Porsche 911 GT3 Hybrid the predecessor of which had caused a lot of attraction at the Nürburgring last year already. The newcomers as well as the family Stuck will have to show their competitiveness in the field of more than 200 sports and touring cars. The prizegiving ceremony will take plat at 6 p.m. in the ring°boulevard. A 30 minutes summary of the opening round will be shown in the channel Sport1 on 4th May at 5:30 p.m. The supporting programme on the last weekend of April includes the reopening of the Nürburgring Historic Paddocks and the new documentation on the Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna will be shown in the cinema ring°kino.

‘Stuck3’ is the motor for the final season of Hans-Joachim Stuck. Hereby, a long-standing wish will become true for him before he will definitely conclude his career as race driver. The professional race driver will participate in the ADAC Zurich 24h Race Nürburgring together with his sons Johannes and Ferdinand. In preparation of this marathon race, the trio, supported by Peter Kox from the Netherlands, will bring the Lamborghini Gallardo of Reiter Engineering to the start of the VLN endurance racing championship races at the Nürburgring. The two Stuck brothers achieved their first victory in a team at the opening race of the ADAC GT Masters last Easter weekend.

The conservative designation ‘Golf24’ for the new race car of the manufacturer Volkswagen at the Nordschleife is almost an understatement. On occasion of the 35the anniversary of the GTi, the manufacturer from Wolfsburg will bring a four-wheel race car to the start is a really powerful vehicle. The 2.5 litres supercharged engine develops about 440 HP and the car will be driven by René Rast (Stolzenau/ Germany), Peter Terting (Börwang/ Germany) and Franck Mailleux (France) ab. “With the Golf 24 this will be the first time since 2007 for us to compete with works prepared Golf again”, explains Volkswagen Motor Sport Director Kris Nissen. “The former car does however not have very much in common with the current one. The Golf24 is a special development in all respects which was prepared in only four months, from the first design note up to the first roll-out. We are really looking forward to our first participation in the endurance racing championship.”

The updated Hybrid Porsche making its debut net weekend will be driven by Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld/ Germany), Patrick Long (USA) and Marco Holzer (Lochau/ Germany). “We have collected a lot of data during our race participations last year which have been very useful for the further development of our racing laboratory”, says Porsche Head of Motor Sport Hartmut Kristen. “Under similar lap times as in 2010, we intend to feed even less energy from the exterior and thus to reduce fuel consumption.”

The three newcomers will be faced with a huge group of possible winners. More than 20 GT3 cars have entered the DMV 4 Hour Race and another two dozen of teams from the top categories have realistic chances to make it on top of the podium. Dream sports cars which include Aston Martin, Audi R8 LMS, BMW M3, Dodge Viper, Ferrari F458, Ginetta, Porsche 911 and SLS AMG GT3 will be at the start. After the much appreciated 1-2 victory gained by BMW at the opening race, in particular Audi is now following up. Abt-Sportsline has entered the team of Christian Abt (Kempten/ Germany), Luca Ludwig (Bornheim/ Germany) and Christopher Mies (Heiligenhaus/ Germany) and Marcel Fässler (Switzerland), Marcus Winkelhock (Bergen-Steinbach/ Germany), Marc Bronzel (Großensee/ Germany), Marc Basseng (Leutenbach/ Germany) and Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel/ Germany) will all compete for the team of Phoenix-Racing.

Prizegiving ceremony at the ring°boulevard
The prizegiving ceremony to honour all the successful drivers in all classes will this year take place in the ring°boulevard. The ceremony in front of the impressive video wall will start at 6 p.m., from 5 p.m. live music will start to entertain the guests.

The second round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring will begin with the timed practice session to take place between 08:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. At 12 o’clock exactly, the start signal for the 36th DMV 4 Hour Race over the distance of four hours at the 24.369 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring sort connection with the Nordschleife will be given. The entrance all around the Nordschleife is free. A fee of 12 Euro per person will be due for access to the open grandstands at the Grand Prix Circuit, including the paddocks.

The Historic Paddocks to add splendour to the event
At the reopening of the Historic Paddocks, the fans may look forward to the highlights from eight decades of motor sport. After a six months restoration period, the old paddocks will be reopened on 30th April and 1st May 2011. The appropriate setting during the two days will be provided by a number of historic race cars from various eras as well as drivers whose names are particularly associated with the Nürburgring: Hubert Hahne, Hans Herrmann, Klaus Ludwig, Jochen Mass, David Piper, Willi Kauhsen, Kurt Ahrens, Jürgen Neuhaus, Hans Heyer and Erich Zakowski. The programme will be completed amongst other by fashion shows of the twentieth and seventieth years.

Documentary film ‚Senna’ in the cinema ring°kino
The documentary film Senna constitutes a tribute to the unchallenged greatest champion which the history of Formula 1 has ever created. It is, however, in particular homage to an extraordinary talent. The film exclusively consists of original shoots whereby the British producer had access to the complete archive of FOM and to all of the private video recordings in possession of the family Senna. “Neither the family nor Bernie Ecclestone have offered any such brilliant possibilities ever before”, said film author Manish Pandey. In many previously unreleased scenes, the film accompanies Ayrton Senna on his way to become the top driver in Formula 1, highlights his continuous fight against the authorities and for justice, his significance for his country which honours him still today as the greatest of their heroes. The documentation will be shown on 30th April and on 1st May at 5 p.m. respectively in the cinema ring°kino.

Info and foto: vln.de

Manthey well prepared for the start of the season

In sunny spring weather last Saturday, seven Porsche 911 GT3 race cars entered by Manthey-Racing completed their laps at the Nordschleife for the first time in the year 2011.

The first common roll-out of the VLN teams revealed that the season 2011 will be a very special one, both for the fans and for the participants: A sensational mix of top drivers and more makes than ever are promising fascinating racing at the most beautiful race track of the world! Whilst Porsche will remain to be the strongest make and, with Manthey-Racing, has a top team in the fight about the race win, their competitors have not taken a rest during winter and did certainly catch up. The very competitive spearhead of Manthey Racing will certainly be challenged by not less than seven brand-new SLS AMG GT3, entered by four teams. Not to forget last year’s winning team of the 24h Race, Schnitzer Motorsport, who will compete at the Eifel circuit with two completely updated BMW M3 GT. For Olaf Manthey, the Phönix-Audi R8 prepared at Meuspath, just around the corner of the Manthey team, must also be considered to be one of the favourite teams. “We are well prepared in the team of Manthey-Racing”, says the experienced strategist. “Everything else will remain to be seen in the next rounds.”

Lucas Luhr who has come back to the team will again be part of the “big” race car in the traditional yellow green design and with start number 11 as regular driver. Due to the close cooperation with Porsche Motorsport, the works drivers Marc Lieb, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas will this year again drive the GT3-R. The crew is completed by Arno Klasen. “The competition will definitely be much closer”, said Lieb at the press conference. “We intend to continue just where we have stopped in 2010”. The race driver from Ludwigshafen/ Germany regrets that according to current plans, he will compete in only three of the ten VLN races for Mantey. “I will however definitely participate in the two 6h races!”.

The opening round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring will start this Saturday with the timed practice between 08:30hrs and 10:00hrs. The start of the 58th ADAC Westfalenfahrt over the distance of four hours on the 24.369 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short connection and the Nordschleife will then be given at 12 o’clock exactly.

Info and Foto: Manthey Racing/ VLN.de