The 52nd edition of the 24h Nürburgring only managed to complete 50 laps after around 8 hours of racing, courtesy of dense fog descending on the Green Hell overnight. South African racing icon Sheldon van der Linde suffered misfortune by tangling with two slower cars, taking him and his BMW out of contention. Watch below…
Looking for a new or used Volkswagen Amarok? Find it here with CARmag!
With a starting grid dappled with rain droplets, the iconic German circuit would prove a battlefield over the next day. Several cars opted to pit after the formation lap for wet rubber, which jumbled the grid and had polesitter #72 BMW M4 GT3 tumble down the order. On the BMW front, Van der Linde took over the #99 car and continued to fight at the front. However, in the race’s fourth hour, the leading BMW M4 GT3 was forced to retire through no fault of its own. While lapping, van der Linde was hit on the left rear by a slower car and collided with another car. The fight for victory ended in the track barrier.
Related: Van der Lindes Continue Making inroads into Formula E
Only just under seven and a half hours could be driven under regular conditions, followed by a break of over 14 hours, before the race ended after five formation laps behind the safety car. The thick fog still prevalent in the dimly lit conditions.
The final classification had Frank Stippler, Christopher Mies, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall declared winners of the 52nd outing of the event with their Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II crossing the line followed by the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) of Laurens Vanthoor, Thomas Preining, Kevin Estre and Ayhancan Güven. The BMW M4 GT3 of Daniel Harper, Max Hesse and Charles Weerts rounded up the podium.
Related: South African Sheldon van der Linde crowned DTM ’22 champion
South Africans Kelvin van der Linde and Jordan Pepper took fifth spot alongside Italian Marco Mapelli in their Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 while another local driver, Leyton Fourie, secured the second spot with his German-driven team in the BMW M4 GT4.
Looking for your next new or used vehicle? Find it here with CARmag!
