I had such a productive day yesterday (saturday). I was able to finish rendering that I’ve been working with for a while now, and then started and finished another rendering which should be posted this week. On top of that I also finished another page of Supergirl#53. Thanks in part to RadioLemans for the live coverage of the 24 hr of Nurburgring. It kept me working through out.

And what a race it was.


After a five year break from the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, BMW returned to the “green hell” with two BMW M3 GT2 racecars running 15.77 miles just to cover one lap.


BMW very own Team Schnitzer’s manager Charly Lamm were looking to make an epic comeback against the major oppositions like the Porsche, Audi and Ferrari teams. During their 5 year absence, Manthey Racing dominated every year with their Porsche 911 and they are back with the handful of GT3-R and the new GT3-R Hybrid model..

Audi’s not having any of it as they invested tons of money and man hours into this race and their R8 LMS. They had Audi flags everywhere – even had a row of 25 R8 parading before the race began. During qualifying, the different Audi R8 LMS teams qualified 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. They will not and can’t be ignored.

Ferrari made their debut race with their Hankook F430 GTC.

The BMW M3 GT2 qualified 8th and 11th on the grid.

As soon as the flag dropped, the #1 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R which was 7th on the grid, was so fast out of the hole that it passed ALL of the leading Audi R8s within the first lap.

Check out the video below but fast forward to the 3:00 mark to see the start of the race and witness thow fast the #1 Manthey Racing Porsche GT3-R truly is.

As Team BMW watched the Manthey Racing Porsches dominating already which what would be a sight they will see for the most of the race, the worst possible scenario for any team happened.

The #26 BMW M3 which already had an unscheduled pit stop due to a tire blowout, crashed hard trying to avoid a collision in lap 8 resulting in a one hour lost of trying to put the car back together. They dropped as far back as 182nd position in the field of 199.

Dirk Werner (Car Number 26):
“At Schwedenkreuz I was behind a slower competitor and wanted to lap him on the right hand side. However, the other car also moved right. I tried to avoid the collision, but ended up going off the track. I went over the grass, then across the track and collided heavily with the crash barriers at Aremberg.”

199 cars started the race and only 123 will actually cross the finish line on the 24th hour. Here’s one of the Porsche that didn’t make it.

They call this track GREEN HELL for many good reasons.

Three hours passed by with the #1 Manthey Racing Porsche GT3-R leading the pack, ABT R8 LMS in second and two more Manthey Porsche GT3-R/hybrid in 4th and 5th place with the #25 BMW M3 patiently waiting in 6th place.

After six 6.5 hours into the race, some of the Audi RS LMS continued to have issues with some of their cars and slowly dropping off the pace.

The #25 BMW M3 was in 3rd place behind the leading Porsche GT3 R of Manthey Racing. The persistence of the BMW pit crew brought #26 BMW M3 back to life and worked its way steadily through the field landing in the 65th place.

Into the night, the first half of the 24 hour endurance race, the #1 Manthey Racing 911 GT3-R had an accident crashing into another car ending their hopes of celebrating their fifth consecutive wins.

Team Principal Olaf Manthey:
“Marc stands in the Pflanzgarten area. The car’s left side is seriously damaged – including parts of the axles and the radiator. We have sent a crew with parts to the crash site for an emergency repair. We hope to be ale o get the car back to the pits, this way. That’s racing. You can be the leader but be forced into retirement any time. And this time, we had to cope with this fate.”

Even with one of the cars from Manthey Racing dropping out, BMW still had to contend with the #9 GT3-R Hybrid which was proving to be one of the best set up to have, especially during an endurance race. They lead most of the last half of the 24 hour race.

This was also about the time that the #25 BMW M3 GT2 started to have issues with their transmission which would haunt them for the rest of the race.


It was almost 4AM here in the US – couple more hours to go, #25 BMW was in second place a little less than 5 minutes behind the GT3-R Hyrbid. I couldn’t stay up any more. I was dead tired from work.

I was about to shut off the RadioLemans radio feed when I heard “OH NO! Something had happened to the GT3-R Hybrid.” I tuned in for a few more minutes to find out that the #9 GT3-R Hybrid engine stalled and it was stuck on the side of the track. The team assumed it was a blown engine but reports says that it was a transmission problem forcing the team to retire their only hope for the podium.

#26 was moving on up as well and had broke into the single digit position.

I went to bed with the #25 BMW in first place followed by Team Farnbacher Ferrari F430 GTC with Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS in 3rd which will be the final podium standings of the race.

When I woke up, I found out that it wasn’t an easy win for the #25 BMW M3 during the last hour as they slowly lost their transmission gears. Some of the fans started to wonder that the Ferrari team may possibly win their inaugural race. Fortunately the skills of the BMW drivers made it possible to cross the finish line in spite of loosing their 4th gear with the Ferarri F430 GT following closely behind by only four minutes!

The king of the ring #25 BMW M3 covered 154 laps in 24 hours 18.1 seconds which is a total distance of 2,428.5 miles. Their average speed was 101.2 mph setting a fastest lap of 8m 32.644s on lap 125 – that’s an average speed of 110.7mph!

And with that, BMW claimed their 19th overall victory making it the most successful brand in this event. Congratulations to the drivers Jörg Müller, Augusto Farfus, Uwe Alzen and Pedro Lamy and to the entire team.

Congratulations also to the #26 BMW M3 who was at 182nd place in lap 8 but finished in 7th place overall! That is a testament to calm and patient nerves of everyone in the team.

Here is a quote from BMW Motorsport Team Director Mario Theissen:

That was a fantastic return for us at the 24-hour race here on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. This win reminds me of the triumph in Le Mans in 1999. I have never known excitement like I experienced today. After some of our direct rivals fell by the wayside, our victory was also hanging by a thread. At about 12.00 the winning car developed a gearbox problem, resulting in the loss of one gear. Shortly after 13.00 other gears gradually gave up. It was a masterful performance how Jörg Müller and Uwe Alzen brought the car home in first place in this crucial phase. The tension was enormous for all of us, so the relief was all the greater when the car crossed the finish line. I must say a big thank you to every single member of the team. Everyone worked perfectly together. Thanks also to our loyal fans, who have taken us to their hearts after a five-year break and given us such great support.

Out of the top 10, BMW placed 1st, 4th, 7th and 9th overall!!


Race Results:

1. 25 BMW M3 GT2 – 154 laps
2. 43 Ferrari F430 GTC +3:53.191
3. 97 Audi R8 LMS +1 lap
4. 76 BMW Z4 GT3 +2 laps
5. 102 Audi R8 LMS +2 laps
6. 20 Porsche GT3 Cup S +3 laps
7. 26 BMW M3 GT2 +4 laps
8. 18 Porsche GT3 Cup S +4 laps
9. 69 BMW Z4 GT3 +5 laps
10. 35 Porsche 997 GT3 +6 laps

Congrats to all the teams that finished.

Expect to see a BMW rendering that I finished while listening to the race.

Useful links:
ADAC 24hr Nurburgring
RadioLemans

Photo Credits:
Endurance-info.com
Motorsport.com
BMW Motorsport