Nurburgring 24h: Phoenix Audi wins battle of attrition

The crew came through from 22nd on the grid to secure the win for the Meuspath-based squad after 159 laps, equalling the race's distance record.

It was a second N24 victory for Vanthoor, Vervisch and van der Linde, the first two having been part of the winning Phoenix in 2019, while van der Linde previously triumphed with Land Motorsport in 2017.

As ever, the race was not without drama with several contenders disappearing from the leading contention before nightfall.

These included the well-fancied Rowe Racing BMWs and the TF Sport-run Aston after crashes, while a puncture delayed the #12 HRT Mercedes.

After surviving the night, the Phoenix Audi still had two opponents to defeat, the two GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3s, the #3 car of Adam Christodoulou, Maxi Gotz and Fabian Schiller and the #4 entry of Maro Engel, Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella.

The #3 AMG emerged as Phoenix's fiercest opponent on Sunday morning. Christodoulou and Schiller brought their car within striking distance and were on the tail of the Phoenix Audi when weather became a factor with three hours to go.

GetSpeed had the strategic disadvantage by pitting one lap before Phoenix. When the floodgates opened in some places over the track, the Mercedes-AMG was on slicks. That turned out to be the wrong choice, with Phoenix putting on cut slicks one lap later.

Podium: Race winner #15 Audi Sport Team Phoenix Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2: Kelvin van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, Frédéric Vervisch, Robin Frijns, Ernst Moser, Team principal Team Phoenix

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

This allowed Van der Linde to build up a cushion that ballooned to more than a minute, reigning DTM champion Gotz powerless to advance on his treadless rubber. Van der Linde then coolly managed its lead to the finish, as the second GetSpeed-Mercedes secured the last place on the podium in third.

“My feelings are a bit ambivalent,” said Christodoulou, the 2016 winner.

“We really had a massive chance of winning the race. Because of the rain, it was a matter of luck at times which tyres were working best.”

Christopher Haase, Nico Muller, Patric Niederhauser and Rene Rast finished fourth in the Car Collection Audi after losing time to penalties, ahead of the second Phoenix Audi entry of Markus Winkelhock, Kuba Giermaziak, Kim-Luis Schramm and Michele Beretta.

The winning crew survived an early scare on Saturday when Vanthoor clashed with his older brother Laurens in the 2021 race-winning #911 Manthey Porsche.

After side to side contact approaching the Hohenrain chicane, Laurens Vanthoor crashed hard forcing Manthey to retire early.

In a difficult 24 hours for Porsche, the leading entry from Weissach was Falken Motorsport quartet Jaxon Evans, Sven Muller, Patrick Pilet and Marco Seefried in a twice-lapped ninth.