Photo: Mercedes-AMG
***Edoardo Mortara is on reserve driver duties for Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein after being added to the No. 4 entry, according to team principal Sean Paul Breslin. Bilstein program operator Haupt Racing Team arranged on Monday for Mortara to be on standby if Philip Ellis, who has been unwell, is unable to race. Ellis was in the paddock on Thursday and missed the first track session but later took part in Qualifying 2.
***An updated Top Qualifying 2 entry list has been issued ahead of Friday’s pole-deciding shootout. It confirms that one of the Top Q2 slots will go to the fastest SP9 Pro-Am car across the three preliminary qualifying sessions. The average value of each Pro-Am car’s five fastest sector times will be taken into account.
***WTM by Rinaldi Racing didn’t complete any laps in the first qualifying practice session due to electrical issues on its Ferrari 296 GT3. It first hit trouble on the way back from the Adenauer Racing Day fan event on Wednesday.
***Defending N24 winner Frederic Vervisch reckons the dry weather forecast means that lap times are likely to get significantly quicker as the weekend progresses. “It felt quite slippery, so I expect the times to improve quite a bit during the week and they expect dry conditions, so it’s just going to get better and better,” said Vervisch. “This will just evolve day by day and on Sunday it should be the fastest track available.”
***The Belgian remained earnest about Audi’s odds for its N24 defense. Vervisch’s Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX car, which he shares with Mattia Drudi, Dennis Lind and Ricardo Feller, carries the No. 1 in reference to its victory in last year’s event.
***Vervisch said: “In the end, there are so many stories about that, if you drive with number one. We won last year, we won in 2019, we will try again. We participate so we have a chance. I’m now a bit experienced in this race by winning and losing it. You need all the factors to come into place.”
***It is rare for a GT3 manufacturer to win back-to-back N24s. Audi was the last to do so in 2014 and 2015, with different versions of the R8 and with different teams in Phoenix and WRT. Before that, Porsche managed four consecutive victories from 2006 to 2009.
***ABT Sportsline is channeling the Italian spirit for its first N24 with Lamborghini. “We are [based] very close to the Italian border,” team principal Thomas Biermaier told Sportscar365. “We are half Italians. Our favorite restaurant in Kempten is also an Italian restaurant. So we have quite some emotions.”
***The Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R will go on to contest next weekend’s DTM curtain raiser at Oschersleben. It will be joined by the team’s other, green-based ‘grello’ Porsche which is due to attend the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa official test on Tuesday and Wednesday. Manthey’s N24 operations truck has a DTM logo on its side.
***Manthey EMA has not decided whether it will do more NLS races after the N24, considering its maiden DTM program wil be well underway. “It’s really difficult with the time plans,” managing director Nicolas Raeder told Sportscar365. “We do not have two crews. If we have DTM, we cannot do NLS.” Three of the remaining five NLS rounds clash with DTM events.
***Raeder added that Manthey EMA might consider further Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli outings after Spa, depending on its result there. The team already did the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, on the home turf of its Australian partner EMA Motorsport. “I hope, but I think it depends on Spa,” Raeder said when asked if more IGTC races are on the cards.
***Pirelli has brought new P Zero slick and wet compounds for its SP9 teams — Dinamic GT and Doerr Motorsport — to an event that serves as a development test bed. “Once again this year, the Nürburgring 24 will be the testing ground for our range of products intended for GT3 cars,” said the supplier’s track racing manager Matteo Braga.
***Five tire companies are represented in SP9, the same number as last year. 25 cars are on Michelins while Yokohama (Walkenhorst Motorsport), Goodyear (Schnitzelalm Racing, Racing One, PROsport Racing), Falken (Falken Motorsports) and Pirelli are also on the grid.
***Max Hesse feels that the BMW Junior Team is “well prepared” for its third N24 in the SP9 ranks but acknowledged that perfect preparation is “no guarantee” of victory, especially after last year when the RMG-operated entry had two costly accidents.
***Hesse, Dan Harper and Neil Verhagen contributed to BMW’s strong start to the Nordschleife season that saw the Munich manufacturer win three NLS races. “The BMW M4 GT3 feels good on the Nordschleife,” said Hesse. “I think that we have particular strengths at top speed and at night.”
***Land-Motorsport is “happy to be back” at the N24 after missing last year’s edition when Audi Sport only had two factory-supported entries and gave priority to full-time NLS teams. Team principal Christian Land told Sportscar365 that the German squad held meetings with Audi Sport earlier this year that gave a “positive sign” about a deal emerging: “We got the confirmation that we could enter the car in February. Since then, we are working quite a lot on getting the program running.”
***Land recently expanded into the 24H Series, running two GT3 Audis in the 12-hour races at Mugello and Spa. When asked about the rest of the team’s programs for this year, Land said: “We entered two cars in Creventic and are working on some other projects for the 2023 season. We will also do something that I cannot talk about at the moment.”
**Audi Sport head of customer racing Chris Reinke explained that the budget saved from the manufacturer’s withdrawal from IGTC were reinvested into the N24 and 24H Spa programs, contributing to a larger Nürburgring contingent than last year. “We decided this year to focus more on Nürburgring and Spa, entering with a bigger volume with a bigger focus on these races, and dropped Intercontinental GT for it,” said Reinke. “In the past, we tried to get everything going.”
***Another large crowd is expected for the second N24 edition to be held without COVID-19 measures. The campsites around the Nordschleife became full on Thursday and remaining campers were instructed to head to Mullenbach on the Grand Prix loop.
***Live coverage of all sessions is available on the official N24 YouTube channel. Jonny Palmer, Bruce Jones, Peter Snowdon, Peter MacKay and Paul Truswell form the English-language commentary team.
***A third and final qualifying practice is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET) on Friday. The two-part Top Qualifying then starts at 5:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. ET).
Davey Euwema contributed to this report
