BMW M4 Wins a Dramatic Nürburgring 24 Hours

This year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours had everything: a record crowd of 280,000, 30°C temperatures and a 140-car field. Add a power cut, a penalty and a string of crashes, and the result was a thrilling 24-hour contest that finished with a BMW M4 on the top step of the podium.

Nürburgring 24 Hours begins in searing heat

When the race started at 4pm, many teams took a careful approach to prevent their engines from overheating, especially in the smaller classes. Plucky outsiders Ollis Garage Racing saw their robust Dacia Logan stall on the grid, sending it to the pits despite enthusiastic support from the animated crowd. You have to love it.

Just two hours into the event, the race was stopped following the power failure in the pit building. Drivers could no longer communicate with their teams and, once darkness fell, there were no lights around the circuit either. We imagine somebody received a serious dressing-down afterwards.

After a further three hours, the offending fuse had been located and repaired. Racing restarted with Manthey Racing’s 911 GT3 R leading Falken Racing’s 911, with Aston Martin Vantages, Ford Mustangs, Lamborghini Huracans and Mercedes-AMG GTs following behind.

A solitary Ferrari 296 GTB was among that pursuing group, alongside Rowe Racing’s M4. Having missed the final qualifying session, the latter had begun the race from 17th, yet made excellent progress through the field. By then, the Dacia had also returned to the circuit. That machine simply refuses to quit, doesn’t it?

Falken crash opens the door for Manthey

As dusk arrived, Team Falken’s race unravelled. Its #33 GT3 R, running about 10 seconds behind Manthey, suffered a head-on collision with a GT3 Cup at the Mercedes-Arena bends after an ageing 3 Series had nudged it. Thankfully, no serious injuries were reported.

That ended the lead Falken car’s challenge and handed Manthey valuable breathing room. The team remained composed throughout the night and appeared set to take the chequered flag first. The Nürburgring, however, seemingly had other plans.

BMW M4 takes victory after Manthey penalty

With the afternoon phase under way, the heat intensified once more and Nürburgring legend Kevin Estre was driving for Manthey. While lapping a Vantage, he moved on to the grass to overtake and made contact, causing the Vantage to roll over. Officials ruled the incident punishable and issued Manthey and Estre with a 100-second penalty with only a few hours remaining.

The Rowe BMW garage erupted. The team had steadily moved forwards while maintaining consistent lap times, ultimately finishing just seconds behind Manthey on the road. Once the penalty was applied, however, it had won by a comfortable margin. That was particularly impressive because most BMW customer teams had opted to preserve their cars for the upcoming Spa 24 Hours, leaving Rowe as the only entrant running an M4 this year.

BMW has therefore reclaimed the bragging rights from Audi, which won last year’s shortest-ever N24. It also marks BMW’s first victory in the event for five years, following Rowe’s 2020 triumph with an M6 GT3.