The Nürburgring hosted the second round of Germany’s VLN at the weekend. In a month’s time, competitors will be returning to the same circuit for the Nürburgring 24 Hours (May 15-16) which has attracted an exceptional entry with no fewer than eight Porsches and seven Audis.

Last Sunday’s race saw Manthey Racing’s Porsche/Michelin claim its second VLN win of the year. The Bernhard/Dumas/Tiemann-shared Porsche GT3 R finished ahead of the Phoenix Racing-run Audi R8 LMS and the Porsche GT3 R Hybrid which was unveiled at last month’s Geneva Motor Show.

The highlight of Germany’s VLN endurance racing championship is mid-May’s Nürburgring 24 Hours where a simply mouth-watering field will tackle the celebrated Nordschleife circuit. Manthey Racing, which has several wins on this event under its belt already, and Mametimerow Racing will be present with an armada of Porsche GT3 Rs.

They will face competition from the Phoenix Racing, Abt and Black Falcon Audi R8 LMSs, not to mention the Schnitzer BMW, the Gazoo Racing Lexus LF-A and the Hankook-Farnbacher Ferrari. There are plenty of spectacular cars in the different classes, too, including a number of Aston Martin Rapides, two diesel-powered Peugeot RCZs and a Ford Focus RS in the hands of rally star Jari-Matti Latvala.

Talking of drivers, Porsche, Audi and BMW have split their factory representatives among the different privateer teams. Porsche will have Marcel Tiemann, Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Timo Bernahrd on duty, while the great Walter Röhrl will contest the race in a standard Porsche GT3 RS. Audi has also called in some top driving talent in the persons of Manu Collard, Christian Abt, Lucas Luhr, Mattias Ekström, Mike Rockenfeller, Marcel Fassler, Franck Biela, Hans-Joachim Stuck, etc.

24 Heures du Nurburgring