The Nürburgring 24 Hours Preview- 2019

June is a big month for racing fans. It features the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Nürburgring 24 Hours, three Grand Prixs and, if you count the last weekend of May as well, the Indy 500 and Monaco Grand Prix. But right now, all eyes are focused on the Eiffel Mountains in Germany, where 158 cars are currently preparing to do battle over 24 hours around the most fearsome track in the world: the Nürburgring. As much as James May hates it, it has become an icon of endurance racing and there is no doubt that this year's race will be a classic. If there are no red flags it will be a rarity as well, bad weather stopping racing two years in a row in 17 and 18.

We shall start our preview with the defending champions, Manthey Racing. This once-small German team has now become synonymous with Porsche racing worldwide, and are renowned for a bright green/yellow (or 'grellow', as the voice of endurance racing John Hindhaugh puts it) paint scheme on their cars. The defending champion, last year #912, is being driven by Porsche factory drivers Richard Lietz, Nick Tandy, Fred Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet; the sister car, #911, driven by Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor and WEC pairing Michael Christiansen and Kevin Estre. They are among the favourites, particularily as almost half of their drivers are fresh off the Le Mans 24 Hours last weekend. Manthey's 'youth car', #12, features Porsche Juniors Matteo Cairoli, Lars Kern, and Dennis Olsen.

The #912 last year

Porsche also have other cars involved in the race. Frikadelli Racing have two cars, with the #31 featuring World Endurance Champion Romain Dumas, Porsche factory driver Sven Muller and Australia's own Matt Campbell, winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier in the year. Falken Motorsport, continuing running two different marques, have the #44 featuring Dirk Werner.

Mercedes-Benz are also always strong, and a team that runs very well in the Nürburgring 24 and also at Dubai is Black Falcon, and there are three in the race. The #2 is driven by Adam Christodoulou, Maro Engel, Manuel Metzger and Dirk Muller, the #3 by Maxi Buhk, Hubert Haupt, Thomas Jager and Luca Stolz, and the youth-filled #6 by Patrick Assenheimer, Yelmer Buurman, Nico Bastian and GT4 champion Gabriele Piana. GetSpeed Persormance also have three cars, and while their driver lineups are not so well known, they feature some very good drivers such as Renger Van de Zande, and also features Fabian Vettel, the 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel's younger brother. Suprisingly, HTP Mann Filter only have one car, but it does feature the exciting Italian, Raffaele Marciello.

Black Falcon #6.

Audi's assault is spearheaded by the #4 car with Kaffer, Stippler, Vervisch and Dries Vanthoor driving the Phoenix car. Their team car, the #5 (without factory backing from Audi) is driven by Kolb, Schramm, Stippler and ex-DTM driver Jamie Green. Car Collection Motorsport have the #14 Audi with four very famous drivers: Winkelhock, Haase, Fassler and Rast. Despite not being from the biggest team, this car could be considered a favourite for the win. There's also the Landt car, #29, the winner in 2017, who could go again, with Chris Haase also part of their lineup.

The Rowe car out on the track.

BMW have fewer cars than last year entered but they still have strong teams. Schnitzer feature Kelvin Van der Linde of Landt's brother, Sheldon. Rowe's two cars seemed cursed last year, with several serious breakdowns, but they will be back this year, with very similar drivers, including IMSA champion Tom Blomqvist. Walkenhorst also have two cars, featuring F1 test driver Nick Yelloly, inaugural GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez and another GT Academy graduate, Jordan Tresson. Falken Motorsports, in addition to their Porsche, have the #33 with drivers such as veterans Alex Imperatori and Peter Dumbreck. Two Nissans are entered from Imperatori's regular team, KCMG, and feature WEC LMP1 driver Mathieu Vaxiviere, Super GT driver JP Oliveira and another Australian, Josh Burdon.

Wochenspiegel's car last year

Two of the Ferraris are the #11 and #22, with Wochenspiegel Team Monschau doubling their campaign size this year. The third is also the #55 of Octane 126. They will target Top 10 after finishing 9th last year. There is also a Lexus, numbered 19, and the #7 Lamborghini. However, conspicuous absences are the British cars (although there are GT4 Astons).

Overall, this year's N24 will be one of the closest yet. It begins on Sunday afternoon in AEST. I will cover it (probably on Thursday when I get back from holidays) in detail. Talk to you then.