Black Falcon leads 1-2-3 Mercedes victory at 24h Nurburgring

  • 24 hours of Nurburgring, 2016, Black Falcon, Mercedes-AMG GT3

After 24 hours of racing at 25-km Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit, also known as the Green Hell, only five seconds was the difference between the winners and the losers. The winners of the incredibly exciting race were Bernd Schneider, Maro Engel, Adam Christodoulou and Manuel Metzger in the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Black Falcon team.

After 134 laps, the second-placed #29 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of HTP Motorsport was just 5.697 seconds behind. That car was driven by Christian Vietoris, Marco Seefried, Christien Hohenadel and Renger van der Zande.

24 hours of Nurburgring

HTP Motorsport lost the lead and victory in the last of 134 laps

Hohenadel entered the last lap as the leader, with Maro Engel on his tail. Few turns after entering the last lap, still on the GP circuit, Engel took the lead, with the slight contact. He remained in front for the last 20 kilometers to bring the second victory for Black Falcon, after the team triumphed in 2013.

The dominaton of Mercedes is completed with two more cars in the third and fourth place. The #88 car of Haribo Racing Team finished third while Black Falcon’s #9 car missed the podium. The best non-Mercedes was the #23 BMW M6 GT3 of Rowe Racing in the fifth place.

24 hours of Nurburgring

Mercedes conquers the 2016 edition of Nurburgring 24-hour race

GT3 cars in the SP9 class took the first 14 positions in the final classification. Behind them, in the 15th place overall and first in the SP7 class, was the #64 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup of the Black Falcon Team TMD Friction, driven by Andreas Weishaupt, Alex Toril, Mario Farnbacher and Arturo Devigus.

A total of 159 crews participated in the race, which was marked by a hailstorm on the Saturday afternoon, after a first hour of racing. It caused three-hour red flag period.

Photos: 24-rennen.de,