Kelvin van der Linde drove triumphantly towards the checkered flag after 141 laps of the Nürburgring 24-hour race. Although the BMW driver crossed the finish line behind his competitor Kévin Estre in the #911 Porsche, a penalty secured him and his Rowe Racing team the overall victory in the “Green Hell.”
A record crowd, scorching temperatures, thrilling duels, and heated discussions: The 53rd edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours had it all. The main focus was on the battle for overall victory between the pole-setters in the Manthey-Porsche #911 (Estre, Güven, Preining) and the Rowe-BMW #98 (Farfus, Krohn, Marciello, van der Linde).
After the Rowe-BMW team, thanks to Augusto Farfus and Kelvin van der Linde, masterfully fought their way through the field from the start, a two-way battle developed between the “Grello” and the BMW #98 following the retirements of the #33 Falken-Porsche, the #1 Scherer-Audi, and both Getspeed-Mercedes.
With Raffaele Marciello in his rearview mirror, Kévin Estre made contact with a GT4 Aston Martin during lapped traffic. The Aston Martin subsequently slid into the guardrail and flipped due to the impact. For this offense, Estre received a 100-second penalty, against which his Manthey team protested. This protest was rejected by the race stewards shortly before the end of the race, meaning the #911 Porsche was classified in second place after crossing the finish line. Third place went to the #54 Dinamic-Porsche with Bastian Buus, Matteo Cairoli, Loek Hartog, and Joel Sturm at the wheel.
Third Nürburgring victory for Kelvin van der Linde
Following 2020, this success in the Eifel marks Rowe Racing’s second overall 24-hour victory. For final driver Kelvin van der Linde – who is competing in all consecutive 24-hour races at Le Mans, Nürburgring, and Spa this year – it’s his third victory at the Ring. After 2017 and 2022, the 29-year-old South African can once again write his name into the history books this year. His teammate Augusto Farfus last won the classic in 2010, crowning himself the first Brazilian double winner. Raffaele Marciello and Jesse Krohn celebrated their first victory on the Nordschleife.
Power outage caused red flag
On Saturday afternoon, the Nürburgring 24h saw an unusual race interruption. Untypically for the Eifel, this time it wasn’t the weather that caused it, but a widespread power outage. The reason was a defective cooling system, which overheated due to high demand in the summer temperatures, cutting power to the pit building. After the issue was resolved, the race restarted after approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Pictures © Martin.Motorsport