A number of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers past and present competed in the legendary Nürburgring 24 Hour race between Sunday and Monday, with the race being won by the car co-driven by five-time DTM champion Bernd Schneider.
In atrocious conditions, which caused the race to be stopped for a mammoth nine hours, the #9 Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGT GT3 emerged victorious, having been piloted by Schneider, former DTM racer Jeroen Bleekemolen, Sean Edwards and Nicki Thiim.
The race was stopped due to heavy rain and fog banks which dramatically reduced visibility around the 20.8 km Nordschleife. The race was resumed on Monday morning.
Finishing second was the BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS, with the BMW Z4 being piloted by DTM test driver Maxime Martin, Andrea Piccini, Yelmer Buurman and Richard Göransson. After 80 laps of racing they finished less than five minutes behind the lead car, where a lap takes over eight and a half minutes.
Former DTM and WTCC driver Thomas Jäger took turns at the wheel of the cars which finished in third and fourth for ROWE Racing.
Fresh from his first win of the season at Brands Hatch on Sunday, Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller finished the race in fifth having flown from England to Germany on Sunday afternoon in quick time. Rockenfeller shared his G-Drive Racing by Phoenix car with former DTM drivers Marcel Fässler, Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock.
Rockenfeller wasn’t the only driver who hot-footed it over to the ‘Ring on Sunday after the DTM race – BMW’s Martin Tomczyk and Augusto Farfus joined him on the flight. Tomczyk finished the race in sixth after sharing his BMW Z4 GT3 with Dirk Adorf, Claudia Hürtgen and Jens Klingmann (pictured) and being involved in an incident with the sister Schubert car.
An accident prevented the second Schubert Motors BMW Z4 being driven by Farfus from finishing the race. After just six laps and with former DTM driver Uwe Alzen at the wheel, the #19 car went into the back of it’s sister #20 car which was being driven by Hürtgen at the time. Whilst the latter was able to continue and finish in sixth, Alzen, Farfus and Dirk Müller would be out of the race.
Numerous other former DTM drivers participated in the legendary race, including Lucas Luhr (7th), Darren Turner (8th), Stefan Mücke (8th), Pedro Lamy (8th), Frank Biela (9th), Patrick Huisman (17th), Rahel Frey (19th), Marco Werner (19th, 33rd), Volker Strycek (22nd), Peter Dumbreck (23rd) and Kurt Thiim (26th).
The #7 Aston Martin, driven by Turner, Mücke, Allan Simonsen and Lamy was involved in the lead battle for the first half of the race, before dropping down the order. in the wet conditions and after an off-track excursion from Lamy.
Current World Touring Car Championship Marc Basseng was also competing in the race for Prosperia-C. Abt Team Mamerow. The German also had to make a special journey to the circuit after competing in the WTCC races at the Salzburgring. Ultimately he would end up classified down in 134th, out of 180 entries.