Nurburgring 24 Hours – A beginner’s guide to the endurance race at the ‘Green Hell’

With the Nurburgring 24 hours just around the weekend, it is the perfect time for you to get yourself familiar with the famous race around the green hell. The Nurburgring may be overwhelming for new fans. DRC’s beginner’s guide is here to help you with exactly that. With quick information about the Track, the Classes, the Drivers to look out for, and much more.

What is the Nurburgring 24 hours?

The ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring is an annual race around the Nürburgring Nordschleife race track present in Germany. This race is mainly contested by GT race cars, road cars, and touring cars. It is the ultimate test of man and machine that goes on for a grueling 24 hours.

The Track

The Nurburgring 24 Hours is held at the famous Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit. The Nordschleife is considered as one of the hardest track to race upon, earning itself the name of the “Green Hell”. It is a 25.378 km race track present in the town of Nurburg in Germany. With the North loop of the track barely wide enough to fit 2 cars, racing at this place is filled with close calls and near misses.

The Classes

The Nurburgring 24hr has always hosted a plethora of classes. And with 130 cars taking part across 23 classes in the 2024 edition, this year is no different. The class structure is as follows:

The most eye-gathering of these is the SP9 class, as they are often the ones that contest for the overall victory.

Another watching point of this event is the “race within a race”. This means is that at times you will see cars of a class fighting among themselves, all the while giving way to faster cars approaching them under blue flag conditions.

The Favourites

Teams using the Porsche 911 GT3 R have experienced victory at this track in the NLS (Nurburgring Endurance Series) held earlier this year. Hence, they are looking like the best sorted for overall victory. Porsche teams include the Falken Motorsports (no. 33 and no. 44), Manthey EMA (no. 911) among others.

However, 2023 race winners Frikadelli Racing are not to be taken for granted either. They’ve decided to stick with the mighty Ferrari 296 GT3, becoming the only team to enter with a Ferrari.

Porsche’s Manthey squad is the most successful in Nurburgring 24 Hours history and last won here in 2021. BMW, meanwhile, is chasing a record-extending 21st victory, but Mercedes-AMG is searching for its first since 2016.

Indian Talent to look-out for

India’s Arjun Maini is racing in the no. 4 and no. 3 Mercedes over the weekend on a double duty. Mercedes has also introduced a new “lumilor” paint job (electroluminescent lighting technology) for it’s no. 4 car.

Weekend Schedule of the Nurburgring 24 Hours

Here’s what the weekend schedule looks like:
THURSDAY
Qualifying 1 – 4:30 PM IST
Qualifying 2 – 11:30 PM IST
FRIDAY
Qualifying 3 – 5:00 PM IST
Top Qualifying – 9:00 PM IST
SATURDAY
Warm Up – 4:10 PM IST
Starting Grid – 6:15 PM IST
Formation Lap – 7:10 PM IST
Race Start – 7:30 PM IST

Where to watch

ADAC TotalEnergies 24hNürburgring channel will broadcast all the sessions of the race on YouTube.

Click here to watch onboard the #4 Mercedes of Arjun Maini.