Mercedes Team RAVENOL prevails at the 24h of Nürburgring

All expectations for the 54th edition of the ADAC RAVENOL 24 Hours of Nürburgring were on the No. 3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes due to the star lineup that had Max Verstappen as a driver, but the Nürburgring had other ideas and kept testing who would make it to the end, with the No. 80 Mercedes Team RAVENOL Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller and Maxime Martin resisting at everything in a mostly damp race that claimed some favorites but spared some icons, be them from the Nürburgring Langenstrecken Serie, from the Intercontinental GT Challenge or simply one-off entries.
 
The start reminded anything except a 24 hour race, with lots of barging and bumping while the No. 99 ROWE BMW was spun and the No. 84 ABT Lamborghini had a tire cut, and further ahead, the No. 130 Red Bull ABT Lamborghini had control over the field, and without the sister car to guard position, the No. 130 had a target on its back for any cars in pursuit, which initially was the case of the No. 3 Verstappen Mercedes and then turned to the No. 911 Manthey Porsche.
 
The No. 7 Konrad Lamborghini was also in the mix, taking second place before the 30 minute mark, but once the gaps got closer, Kevin Estre barged his way over Maximilian Paul when traffic slowed down the Lamborghini. Separate pit strategies meant that the No. 45 Kondo Ferrari took the lead in the second hour, and two names were catching attention due to their hard charges, as Thomas Preining and Max Verstappen were climbing the order by any means necessary.
 
With the pit cycles changing over the hour, the No. 911 got the lead while the No. 3 was third, and then second when the No. 64 HRT Ford stopped, right in time as the No. 45 Kondo Ferrari stamped the barriers at Hatzenbach. The No. 911, the No. 3 and the No. 7 were in the same pit cycle, so, a change of position would depend of their efforts on track amid a track that was progressively getting wetter. Max Verstappen had no reservations and dispatched Ayhançan Güven at the GP-Strecke.
 
Another big hitter getting hit by the Nordschleife was the No. 16 PHX Audi, with massive front right damage and a loose bonnet as Alexander Sims was carrying it back to the garage. A number of cars spun in the meantime, partly due to the wetness of the asphalt as the get deeper into the forest. In a massive charge, Verstappen passed and boxed Dennis Olsen to take the lead of the race before the third hour ended, keeping a considerable lead until his stint ended to deliver the No. 3 to Jules Gounon.
 
Nearly into the fourth hour, Kevin Estre is trying to crush the six seconds to Gounon when the back of the No. 911 slides and hits the barrier, and around the same time at Brünnchen, the No. 64 HRT Ford loses control and hits the barrier front-first, being totally unable to move due to the damage, just like the Porsche, which limped for a while but eventually gave out.
 
The disruptions during the fourth hour and the pit cycle differences gave the lead to the No. 67 HRT Ford, though the No. 3 would be back to the top when the cycle is completed, with the No. 34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin also taking the lead at times, specially when Gounon got stuck in a battle for second with the No. 80 RAVENOL Mercedes and the No. 81 BMW M3 Touring 24H, one of the good oddities of the race.
 
Approaching the sixth hour, the rain came back to the track and temperatures were consistently below 10 degrees, so no team was eager to take risks and regret later, preparing the wet tires once it got to damp for slicks. With the No. 81 having a penalty, the No. 80 and No. 3 battled for the lead, with advantage for the Verstappen Racing Mercedes, though Fabian Schiller wasn’t giving any peace to Lucas Auer. It took until the seventh hour for the No. 80 to get the lead, with straight line speed working for Luca Stolz as Lucas Auer was left behind.
 
With Daniel Juncadella at the wheel, the No. 3 recovered ground and even got the lead again from the No. 80, all while Morris Schurring was spinning in the No. 44 FALKEN Porsche after not clearing the traffic in front of him. The No. 80 and the No. 3 were quietly exchanging blows on track as the hours passed, and so the pit cycles. In the eleventh hour, Max Verstappen went back to the No. 3, and it didn’t take much time to line behind Maro Engel and overtake the No. 80, pushing hard despite the lack of light.
 
While things were going smooth for the top two during the night and early morning, everything was happening behind them, with the No. 44 FALKEN Porsche spinning and crashing while trying to clear a backmarker, the No. 17 Dunlop Porsche crashing hard as it lost grip, the No. 632 FANATEC Black Falcon Porsche Cup understeered until a hefty crash in the barriers, and in the morning, the No. 34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin had a penalty for passing under yellow flags.
 
All the mess in the dark promoted the No. 84 Red Bull ABT Lamborghini to third and the No. 81 BMW M3 Touring to fourth, but they were minutes behind the No. 3, so Daniel Juncadella was bringing the car home with the calmest pace possible, or at least it was until the middle of the Hour 20, as serious investigation in the right rear wheel kept the No. 3 in the garage, promoting the No. 80 to the lead. It was later confirmed that the No. 3 suffered rear driveshaft problems due to the strain in the nearby parts, with Winward Racing working on a solution to at least get the car back.
 
The final hours were of absolute control from the No. 80 RAVENOL Mercedes while the podium places were still up for grabs amid slippery conditions as the rain was coming back little by little. The No. 84 Red Bull ABT Lamborghini had the second place, but also an 86 second penalty for pit infringement, with the No. 34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin and the No. 99 ROWE BMW already done in terms of pit stops.
 
In the final lap, the sun appeared for part of the Nordschleife while the final sector still had rain, but the unstable weather didn’t pose a problem to Maro Engel, who brought the No. 80 RAVENOL Mercedes to the victory, which crowned the consistency the team had over the race.
 
The No. 84 Red Bull ABT Lamborghini crossed the line in second and kept the position thanks to a late local yellow that held up the No. 34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin for longer than their post race penalty. In fifth overall, the SP-X class was won by the No. 81 BMW M3 Touring 24H, an April Fools’ prank turned into a real race car that was able to challenge the overall frontrunners.
 
Deep in the overall top 20, the No. 900 Black Falcon Porsche won the Cup2 class, while the No. 145 Riller + Schnauck BMW won the SP10 class, the No. 962 W&S Porsche was the best Cup3 car, the No. 88 STi Subaru topped the SP4T class, the no. 320 Four Motors Porsche completed alone the AT2 class after the retirement of the No. 632 Black Falcon FANATEC Porsche, the No. 91 Reiter Porsche won the SP7 class, and still within the top 50, the No. 878 SRS BMW won the manufacturer’s class.
 
Further winners within the overall top 100 were the No. 500 Adrenalin BMW in the VT2 Hecka class, the No. 650 Adrenalin BMW in a rather tight finish for the BMW M240i class, the No. 992 Manthey Porsche Cup winning the SP-PRO class, the No. 317 Audi TT-S which won the SP3T class, the No. 448 Porsche Cayman S in the V6 class, the No. 474 Volkswagen Golf GTI in the VT2 Front class, the No. 19 Max Kruse Racing Audi in AT1, the No. 444 Adrenalin Porsche in V5, the No. 830 Hyundai Elantra N TCR in the TCR class and the No. 100 BMW 325i in their single make class.
 
Outside the top 100 overall, despite the attrition, there were other class winners, as the No. 152 BMW 325CI winning the SP4 class, the No. 380 Opel Corsa GS Line 130 in the SP2T class, the No. 59 Dörr McLaren in the SP8T class, and exactly at the 150th position, the No. 277 BMW 318ti (E36) carried the SP3 class.
 
ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring - Race results
 
The madness doesn’t stop, because on 27 and 28 June, the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa will be the third round of the 2026 season, now limited to GT3s only, but usually receiving teams from all GT World Challenge competitions around the globe.
 
PHOTO: SRO/Gruppe C