Falken Motorsports finished the 52nd edition of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring in sixth and eleventh overall – following what will go down in history as the shortest edition of the endurance classic to date.
Thick fog brought out the red flag on Saturday night at 23:23 local time, with over 16 and a half hours of the race remaining. Although cars rejoined the track at 13:30 on Sunday afternoon – for five exploratory laps behind the safety car – conditions did not improve and Race Control opted to display the chequered flag, ending the race before the 24 hours was up for the first time in history.
Things were looking positive for the pair of Falken Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) coming into the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring, with the team among the favourites following a trio of wins in the preceding Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) and ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifying races.
With 240,000 fans packed around the Nordschleife, top qualifying saw the #33 of Klaus Bachler, Julian Andlauer, Sven Müller and Alessio Picariello secure tenth on the grid, while Nico Menzel, Joel Eriksson, Tim Heinemann and Martin Ragginger qualified 14th in the #44.
The weather was the dominant storyline throughout the weekend, with rain falling at various points around the track just minutes before the formation lap. This made tyre choice for the start of the race a lottery – with some cars diving into the pits rather than heading to the grid.
The Falken engineers made the correct decision and by nightfall, the #33 and #44 were running in eighth and ninth place. But, as the race progressed and fog increasingly impeded the drivers’ visibility, the red flag put pay to any further challenges from both cars and eventually the result was declared, with the #33 finishing sixth, while the #44 came home in eleventh place.
The next ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring event will take place from June 19 to 22, 2025.