Nürburgring: Fässler and Müller without a chance

The 46th edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours was dominated by the duel between the strongest Porsche and Mercedes-AMG teams. The two Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R cars, driven by eight GT factory drivers, set the tone for a long time.

When the #911, which was already in front in practice, retired after ten hours due to an unfortunate accident of Romain Dumas (F), a Swiss by choice, on an oil spill, the sister car #912 of Richard Lietz (A), Patrick Pilet (F), Frédéric Makowiecki (F) and Nick Tandy (GB) took command.

Adjusted for pit stops, this quartet was clearly ahead before the car had to serve a three-and-a-half-minute penalty stop for disregarding speed during a yellow phase (Code 60 rule).

This put the Mercedes-AMG GT3, which had been in the best position since the start, in front - just when the race was interrupted after 20 hours due to heavier rain and fog.

Dramatic final sprint over one and a half hours
Despite the still critical conditions in terms of visibility and wetness, race control decided to restart behind the safety car for the remaining one and a half hours.

It was the only and last chance for Porsche to turn the tide after all, as all time arrears went to zero when the race was stopped within the same lap.

This made for a thrilling finish in which Frenchman Fred Makowiecki prevailed in a high-stakes wheel-to-wheel duel against the Mercedes of Adam Christodoulou (GB), Dirk Müller, who lives in Thurgau, Switzerland's Manuel Metzger from Frauenfeld and Maro Engel.

For Porsche, it is the first since 2011, the sixth with a 911 GT3 from Manthey Racing and the twelfth for the brand.

Powerless Audi drivers
Nico Müller, together with his teammates Christopher Haase, Frank Stippler and Frédéric Vervisch in the Audi R8 fielded by Phoenix Racing, moved up to third intermediate place at times.

However, none of the Audi teams was able to win under its own steam because the R8 was not quite able to keep up the pace of the front runners even at high risk due to its classification - keyword Balance of Performance. Was this supposed to make a fifth victory for Audi since 2011 more difficult?

Nico Müller: "We were allowed to unload 10 kilos for the race, but all Audis lack torque due to the limited power. So we lost ground every time we accelerated out of corners and after Code 60 phases. The top speed is the same as Porsche and Mercedes, but we only achieve it because we drive with a flatter wing and therefore less downforce."

The latter, in conjunction with the Dunlop tires, proved to be a handicap even more so when the rain set in at night.

Nico Müller: "We had good grip in the dry, but in the wet it was difficult against the Michelin cars. So we soon had no chance of making the podium."

More than a top ten finish was therefore no longer possible for the 2015 Nürburgring 24 Hours winner. In seventh place, Müller was also the best-placed Swiss at the end of the two-part race.

His second BWT Mücke Motorsport car lost valuable time due to the repair of a broken tie rod after a collision during lapping and finished in seventh position.

Nothing was right for Marcel Fässler
Marcel Fässler in the second Mücke Audi team experienced a race to forget. He, too, complained about the cut engine power of all the Audi cars, which - like the teams with the BMW M6 GT3s - were never able to seriously intervene in the fight for overall victory.

Electronic problems in the form of severe engine misfires first slowed Fässler's R8 on the track, which was then remedied by a longer repair stop. In the final sprint, the driver from Schwyz spun due to aquaplaning and had to have the tie rod replaced in the pits. This dropped him from 12th to 14th place.

Instead of sweet revenge for the overall victory that narrowly escaped in 2017, there was a bitter pill this year.

As a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 42-year-old from Schwyz knows only too well how difficult it is to pull this off.

Marcel Fässler: "Everything just has to be right from A to Z. If the pace isn't right, even the necessary luck won't help you. I'm now hoping that in a month's time at Le Mans with Corvette we'll be classified so well that we'll have a real chance of winning."

Second class win for Yannick Mettler
Of the Swiss not in contention for overall victory, Yannick Mettler took the biggest trophy. In a dramatic finale that he thought he had already lost when the race was stopped, the Lucerne native came away with victory in the most strongly contested class of the BMW M235i Racing Cup, as he had done in 2017.

How it happened and how the other Swiss fared, we describe in a separate report.

24h-race.com