Audi Wins the 24 Hours of The Nürburgring

Photo credits: Audi
This year's 24 Hours of the Nurburgring was a fantastic race as always and poorly covered by the media as always. But that doesn't matter because the fans enjoyed the free but not perfect live stream on Youtube. It seems that nothing has changed since the circuit got recently purchased, which many judge as a good thing.

About the results, it seems that it's a very good year for Audi since the Audi backed Phoenix Team running the R8 LMS Ultra race car #4 won the famous 24 hours race, just a week after the Audi Team Joest won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The leading car with René Rast at the wheel finished in the same lap as the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 which finished 2.59 behind. The #22 Rowe Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 completed the third march of the podium with a 2 laps gap.

Fourth was the #44 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R 997. The #7 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and the #20 BMW Z4 GT3 kept battling for the fifth spot until the very last lap for the amusement of the fans. A battle that took end at the Carousel due to traffic.

There was a total of 165 participants in this year's race with 110 of them reaching the chequered flag. The winning car completed 159 Laps, 4,035 km which is an all time new record for a N24 winner. It's also the first time that the winning car covers more than 4,000 Km.

We are already looking forward to next year's edition with a lot of new comers like Bentley and Dodge. You can find the hourly results (or Ergebnisse!) in PDF format here.

10:43 PM Read More +

Tokyo Auto Salon: Subaru WRX STi Race Car [UPDATE: Video]

Last week, we discovered the first pictures of the 2015 Subaru WRX STi and now the race car variant was revealed at the Tokyo Auto Salon. The race car will compete in the SP3T class of the 2014 24 Hours Nürburgring race that takes place next June, 19th. The car will be driver by Toshihiro Yoshida and Kouta Sasaki from Japan. We'll bring you more information about the power train as soon as we learn more about its road going sister.

2:00 PM Read More +

Tokyo Auto Salon: GRMN 86 Concept

Along their Mark X concept, Gazoo racing unveiled the GRMN 86 Concept at the Tokyo Auto Salon. The car now has a lower center of gravity thanks to a series of upgrades that Toyota says come from the technical expertise gained through the 24 Hours of The Nürburgring endurance race. However, there's no word if Toyota is entering one of these to the upcoming 24 Hours German race. More pictures in the gallery below.

12:25 PM Read More +

BMW M 235i Racing Takes Shape in Real Life [VIDEO]

BMW released the first track footage of its M 235i Racing customer race car. We really wish to see it without the camouflage and wearing BMW's official Motorsport colors but we already love the way it looks.

Here's what BMW had to say about heir new baby race car: "BMW Motorsport is adding a new car to its customer racing range, which is spearheaded by the BMW Z4 GT3, in the form of the BMW M235i Racing. At a price of 59,500 Euros (plus VAT), this car helps to make motorsport affordable on an entry-level basis. Customer feedback has been very positive so far. No wonder, as the new car is a true beauty. But see for yourself... Find out more about the BMW Sports Trophy at: http://www.bmw-sportstrophy.com"

Video after the jump.

11:31 AM Read More +

First Official Sketch of the BMW M235i Revealed

The first official sketch of the BMW M235i race car was released and it seems that the Bavarian auto maker's customer race car is going to be even more exciting than we've expected.

The M235i will be powred by a 3.0-liter turbocharged straight six producing 333 Hp. It also features a full FIA compliant roll cage, a racing fuel tank and a limited slip diffenrential. Pricing starts at $80k (€59.5k). The car will compete at the VLN Endurance Championship and the Nürburgring 24 Hours on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife as a factory backed race car. Stay tuned for more information!

[New source: BMW Blog]

10:51 PM Read More +

BMW M235i Race Car Announed

BMW announced its plans to race a stripped down version of the recently unveiled 2-series model and we couldn't be more excited to hear the news as cars like the iconic 2002 Turbo came to our minds! The BMW 235i is already a good basis to start with as it features a 3.0-liter turbocharged straight six which was pushed from 322 Hp to 333 Hp with this M235i race car.

When it comes to the body, the M235i received extended front fenders and rear wheels arches as well as a full FIA compliant roll cage, a racing fuel tank and a limited slip diffenrential. Pricing starts at $80k (€59.5k). The car will compete at the VLN Endurance Championship and the Nürburgring 24 Hours on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife as a factory backed race car. Stay tuned for more pictures! More details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: BMW]

8:18 AM Read More +

Congratulations to BMW Motorsport!

image credits: BMW Blog
This year's edition of the 24 hours of the Nürburgring saw the returning of BMW Motorsport as a major force with the number 25 E92 M3 GT2 car driven by Jorg Müller, Augusto Farfus, Uwe Alzen and Pedro Lamy winning the 24 hours race after 154 laps round the green hell. In second position comes the number 43 Ferrari F430 GTC followed by the number 97 Audi R8 LMS from Team Phoenix Audi.

The number 76 beautiful black and white BMW Z4 GT3 from team Need For Speed managed to complete the 24 hours race in a fantastic fourth position while the second factory backed M3 GT2 came seventh.

The biggest dissappoitment of the race came from Porsche and more precisely, the number 9 Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car which was on its way to give a new meaning to the word "Hybrid" by winning the 24 hours race in its very first major outing. Unfortunately, at 1h51min from the chequered flag the orange and white KERS equipped Porsche was obliged to stop and make the 24 hours crown a gift for the Number 25 E92 M3 GT2 which was running at the same lap and making outrageous qualifying laps to catch the seemingly untouchable Porsche. Having managed to make 142 laps, the Number 9 Porsche was classified seventeenth.

Unlike last year, the Lexus LF-A managed to finish the 24 Hours race without trouble in a respectable 19th place. The Aston Martin Rapide came 35th and the RCZ Peugeots respectively 51th and 82th. You can find the full ranking table here.

This year's edition of the 24 hours of the Nürburgring saw the participation of 197 cars and more than 200,000 spectators. And that, ladies and gentelmen was my coverage of the 24 Hours race as an internet spectator.

12:46 AM Read More +