Datum: 17.05.2012 · 24h Le Mans
Debut on a really big race
„If you never raced before here at the Nordschleife the first impression is gigantic. The pit-building may be latest F1-Standard and oversized, but in the days of the race more than 170 teams in 20 different classes share it with their cars – sometimes 6 cars per pit. The huge track is a topic of ist own. It is 15.77 Miles long, has 87 corners and has elevation changes of about 290 meters in maximum. It is so huge that several villages are located in the infield. It reminds me a lot to the american tracks like Road Atlanta – just much bigger! At raceday about 100.000 fans are watching the action on dozends of camping-areas around the track. It is very similar to Le Mans.“
This weekend the 40th edition of the classic GT- and touringcar-race is being held in the Eifel-Mountains. „Many traditional names are in the hall of fame of this race: Hans-Joachim Stuck, Niki Lauda, Klaus Ludwig, Johnny Cecotto. The race is of growing international importance and I think one day it will have a same importance as Le Mans – especially as the track is even more spectacular. There are more and more GT3-Teams from Audi, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes and Aston appearing – some works-supported - who will fight intensively for the win.“
BMW won the classic endurance Race 19 times in the last 39 years, followed by porsche with 11 wins. Neither Audi, nor Mercedes and Aston have won the race until now.
This Thursday the race action starts at the ring. The Top-40 Qualifying will take place on Friday at 18.00 O´Clock MEZ. The 175 Starters will start the race on saturday in 3 starting-groups and take the chequered flag 24 hours later on sunday.
An overview of a lap onboard an Audi R8 LMS can be watched under this link via Youtube:
Official Infos are collected on the official site of the race.
Additional Infos can be found on dailysportscar.com..
Also Radio Le Mans is broadcasting via stream from the ring.