Phoenix Racing has got their defence of the Nürburgring 24 hour off to a good start by putting one of their cars on pole position for tonight’s race. The #4 entry driven by Michael Ammermüller, Frank Stippler, Ferdinand Stuck, Johannes Stuck set a best time of 8:17.212 to claim P1. They will start alongside the Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT driven by Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke, Allan Simonsen, Pedro Lamy.

It’s worth noting that last year’s winner, the #3 Phoenix Racing Audi, started from P12 with a lap time over four seconds off the pole position time.

During the race the top 40 cars will carry flashing blue lights to indicate there’s a faster car coming through. With an starting list of 168 cars there’s still a lot of drivers who’ll be watching out for them!

The best placed Australian driver is Paul Stubber in the #27 De Lorenzi Racing Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S who will start from P34. The list below shows the starting order for all Aussie and Kiwi drivers (those marked with asterisk are from NZ).

• P34 – #27 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S (Paul Stubber)
• P52 – #89 BMW Z4 Coupé (Rob Thomson)
• P56 – #72 Aston Martin Vantage V8 (Ric Shaw)
• P60 – #42 Porsche 997 (Clint Harvey, Brett Niall, Malcolm Niall, Mark Pilatti)
• P75 – #6 Aston Martin Vantage V8 (Mal Rose, Peter Leemhuis)
• P85 – #177 BMW E36 (Angus Chapel, Garth Duffy)
• P91 – #102 Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 (Gregory Spark*)
• P142 – #153 Seat Leon TDI (Martin Bailey)
• P145 – #90 BMW E36 M3 (Tony Alford, Kean Booker, Richard Gartner, Peter O’Donnell*)
• P157 – #190 BMW E36 M3 (Michael Eden*, Wayne Moore*, Maurice O’Reilly*)
• P158 – #144 Renault Clio Cup (Christopher Gleeson)

You can download the full starting order HERE (158kb PDF) and the Top 40 qualifiers can be seen below.

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Here’s the finalised list of entries (86kb PDF) showing the Australian and New Zealand drivers taking part in this weekend’s Nürburgring 24 hour race.

Car #6 – Aston Martin Vantage V8 // Class SP8
Mal Rose (AUS), Peter Leemhuis (AUS), Joachim Kern (GER), Egon Allgäuer (SUI)

Car #27 – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S // Class SP9 GT3
Paul Stubber (AUS), Roberto Fecchio (ITA), Dario Paletto (ITA), Marco Mapelli (ITA)

Car #42 – Porsche 997 // Class SP7
Clint Harvey (AUS), Brett Niall (AUS), Malcolm Niall (AUS), Mark Pilatti (AUS)

Car #72 – Aston Martin Vantage V8 // Class SP8
Ric Shaw (AUS), Kim Hauschild (GER), Tom Moran (GER), Dieter Svepes (AUT)

Car #89 – BMW Z4 Coupé // Class SP6
Rob Thomson (AUS), Stefan Aust (GER), Frank Weishar (GER), Andreas Weishaupt (GER)

Car #90 – BMW E36 M3 // Class SP5
Tony Alford (AUS), Kean Booker (AUS), Richard Gartner (AUS), Peter O’Donnell (NZL)

Car #102 – Volkswagen Scirocco GT24 // Class SP3T
Gregory Spark (NZL), Olaf Schley (GER), Andres Serrano (ECU), Yasuyoshi Yamamoto (JPN)

Car #144 – Renault Clio Cup // Class SP3
Christopher Gleeson (AUS), Hugh Buckley (GBR), Volker Kühn (GER), Bashar Mardini (UAE)

Car #153 – Seat Leon TDI // Class D1T
Martin Bailey (AUS), Ivo Breukers (NED), Sjaco Griffroen (NED), Henk Thijssen (NED)

Car #177 – BMW E36 // Class V5
Angus Chapel (AUS), Garth Duffy (AUS), Dominique Bastien (USA), Michael Clemens (GER)

Car #190 – BMW E36 M3 // Class V6
Michael Eden (NZL), Wayne Moore (NZL), Maurice O’Reilly (NZL), Niels Borum (GER)

In preparation for this weekend’s Nürburgring 24 hour race here’s how you can watch and listen to the race online.

It’s likely that more options will become available once the race gets underway, so make sure you bookmark this page for future reference.

The only other point worth noting is the timetable (110kb PDF) for this year’s race. The Top 40 qualifying will start at 2:00am Sunday 19 May (Australian eastern time) and the race will start on Sunday and finish on Monday. On the eastern seaboard of Australia that means the race will start at 1:00am on Monday 20 May and finish at 1:00am Tuesday 21 May.

2013 Nürburgring 24 hour race—Live streaming

• Official race website (includes live timing)

Other resources

• Radio Le Mans (race commentary in English)
• Nürburgring webcams
• Nürburgring 24h on Facebook
• Nürburgring 24h on YouTube

The Nürburgring – world’s leading motorsport resort

The Nürburgring is the world’s leading motorsport resort and the main centre of attraction for motorsport enthusiasts worldwide. Close to 90 years of tradition and history have formed this motorsport icon with unsurpassed global brand recognition. The Nürburgring stands for world-class racing, amateur and junior racing events, as well as countless tourist drives.

The Nordschleife – the so called “Grüne Hölle” – was built in 1927 and is truly unique in length and difficulty. This historic race track is complemented by the ultra-modern, state-of-the-art Grand Prix circuit which was built in 1984 and hosts, amongst others, the “Formula 1 German Grand Prix 2013”. Together with the newly built accommodation, dining and leisure infrastructure (built in 2007–2009) the race tracks have developed into a venue for motorsport fans, business events as well as cultural events.

The Nürburgring employs approx. 300 people, generates a turnover of up to €60 million p.a. and delivers sustainable positive cash flows.

That’s the opening three paragraphs in the official document calling for expressions of interest for the sale of the Nürburgring. The deadline for submissions is 12 June. Although expect any sale negotiations to drag out for some time.

Speculation says the expected sale could be around €120 million. That’s for everything. The GP track, the Nordschleife and the white elephant NüroDisney complex.

It’s quite possible that a large car manufacturer could buy the Ring, with Chris Harris suggesting Volkswagen could be a good fit. Hyundai has also been mooted. Which would at least give some more certainty to their Nürburgring test centre investment.

On the one hand Volkswagen, or any car maker, owning the Nürburgring could be a very good thing. We just wonder how such things as open public days would be viewed in the corporate world.

It’s all fun and games until someone sticks it in the armco, or worse. Would any car maker really want the negative publicity and blood on their hands associated with a touristenfahrten fatality?

[Source: nuerburgring.de]

While we welcome the news that Mal Rose will be making his way to the Nürburgring again for the 24 hour race next month we’re a little sad that he won’t have his V8 Commodore in circulation. That means fans of Aussie V8s will have to make do with this spy shot of the new VF Commodore ute which was seen at the ‘Ring last week.

[Source: Carscoop | Pic: CarPix | Thanks to Matt and John for the tips]

Michael Schumacher’s first gig as an official Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador is perhaps one of the coolest things you will read today. Not only will the seven-time world champion get back in a Formula 1 car he’ll be doing so around Nürburgring Nordschleife. How cool is that!

Schumacher will pilot a 2011-spec Mercedes GP W02 for a demonstration lap around the ‘Ring during the 24 hour race weekend on 19 May. As you might expect he’s quite looking forward to it too.

“I have a lot of fond memories of the Nürburgring and am really looking forward to giving fans and friends from my home town of Kerpen, which is quite close to the Nürburgring, something to remember as they see me drive by,” Schumacher said.

“But it will be a fantastic experience for me too, driving along the Nordschleife in a state-of–the-art Formula 1 Silver Arrow, particularly in view of the fact that the Silver Arrow’s legend began here. Posting a lap in a modern Silver Arrow on the most beautiful and most testing circuit in the world, what a brilliant mix—it’s every motor racing driver’s dream!”

It will be the first time a contemporary Formula 1 car has been driven on the Nordschleife since Nick Heidfeld did so in a BMW Sauber F1.06 back in 2007 (see video below). No official lap time was recorded when Heidfeld drove the ‘Ring and Stefan Bellof’s 6 minute 11 second lap set in a Porsche 956 in 1983 remains the all-time ‘Ring record.

We’re not sure if Michael will be chasing that record, but imagine if he did he could easily break the 6 minute barrier. That would be wow!

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We’re less than a month away from the 2013 Nürburgring 24 hour race (17–20 May) and here’s our first official look at who’s going to be having a crack, thanks to the provisional entry list (94kb PDF) published last week.

The good news is there is plenty of Aussies and Kiwis returning to the Nordschleife, starting with Mal Rose who’ll be driving with Aston Martin again. This year marks his 10th successive N24h start. Another hat tip to Wayne Moore, too, who is celebrating his 20th N24h race. A great effort by both.

A list of the Australian and New Zealanders competing can be seen after the break. As always if you have any updates or notice any errors be sure to leave a note in the comments section.

[Thanks to Obi and Mal for the tip]

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Colin Alton, take a bow. We’re not too sure of Colin’s background but he’s clearly a half decent steerer as this video posted to YouTube shows. And he’s obviously completed many laps around the Nürburgring. Behind the wheel of his Nissan GT-R Colin has posted a bridge-to-gantry lap time of 7 minute 30 seconds.

The time was set a couple of days back during a regular public open day. Luckily for him the track was near empty and he pretty much had the 20.832km of Nordschleife to himself. Lucky guy.

To put this lap time in perspective a 7 minute 20 lap is around the mark for Nissan’s hero lap around the Ring. If you add an extra 20–30 seconds lost by not being able to complete a full v-max run down the main Döttinger Hohe straight we’re talking a 7 minute 50 lap, or thereabouts, if Alton was able to do the full circuit. That’s not too shabby at all.

[via Bridge to Gantry]

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Around a year ago we reported on filming taking place on the Nordschleife for Ron Howard’s F1 movie Rush. Today we bring you the first official trailer of the film, which includes plenty of action from the Nürburgring.

From what we can see here the recreation of Niki Lauda’s crash looks to be very good. The rest of the movie, including the on-track action, also looks to have been made with respect to the era and great skill.

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Weather at the Nürburgring has been a bit grim lately. So no time to drive the track gave someone time to graffiti it instead. And what a massive cock he was too, quite literally, as the image above shows. No sooner had the weather fined up and the track had to be closed to allow track workers to remove the offensive markings.

Once the industrial strength Kleenex work was done the track was open again.

Although, we note, this isn’t the first time a penis has been left on the Ring, so to speak. Remember when the Ferrari 599XX broke the 7 minute barrier?

[Source: Bridge to Gantry via Jalopnik]

Nissan has released a 20 minute video to illustrate the ability of its all conquering GT-R to be driven in snowy conditions. But the introduction to the clip talks about the development of the GT-R on the Nürburgring. It’s worth a look.

The only other question, a seemingly eternal one at that, if you were to drive around a snow covered Nordschleife, would you choose a Porsche 911 or a GT-R?

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In among the possible gloom of a forced sale of the Nürburgring, including the 20.8km Nordschleife, it appears the ability for the public to continue experiencing the ‘Green Hell’ will be protected, as this comment from Joe Saward states:

One of the requirements of the sale is that the circuit must remain available for the general public to use, either as spectators or for drives around the track. This means that it cannot be turned into an exclusive motor racing ‘country club’ of the type that has become popular in the United States in recent years.

We’re pleased to see Touristenfahrten days look safe for now. But we still think it is right to question either the pricing motives or long-term availability of public days until the intentions of any new owner become clear.

[Source: Autocar]