The Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Mason Filippi, Harry Gottsacker, Bryson Morris and Mark Wilkins, representing Team Americas, has won the TCR class of the 2024 Nürburgring 24 Hours, giving Hyundai victory for the fourth consecutive year at the race.
The quartet crossed the line after completing 44 laps of the 25km track at the end of a race where the action was severely curtailed by heavy fog that limited Sunday running to a handful of laps under Safety Car conditions after a red flag that lasted more than 14 hours.
They headed a historic 1-2-3 in the class in the first year Hyundai Motorsport has entered a trio of cars into the race. Team Europe, the defending class winning driver Mikel Azcona, Marc Basseng and Manuel Lauck. Team China – Hongwei Cao, Zhang Zhendong, Rainey He and Andy Yan completed the podium in third aboard the #832 Elantra N TCR.
The weekend started well for the team of Bryan Herta Autosport drivers. Nürburgring 24 Hours, debutant Morris snatched the class pole away from his European teammates with a superb lap late in the final qualifying session on Friday afternoon.
Team Americas and Team Europe started the race side-by-side, but Manuel Lauck made the best start in slippery conditions – his experience at the Nordschleife helping him take the lead and build an early advantage. A strong double stint by Lauck and then a turn by Mikel Azcona had the car inside the top 40 overall before the vehicle was forced into the garage to change a driveshaft.
The time lost dropped the car from the lead of the TCR class to third, though Marc Basseng put in a double stint of his own to start climbing back up the order. With Lauck back behind the wheel, Team Europe was on the cusp of retaking second in class from Team China when the race was red-flagged seven hours into the race at 23:22 local time after a heavy fog descended over the circuit, causing a stoppage for safety reasons.
It was not until 13:30 on Sunday afternoon that the race restarted with five laps, all running behind the Safety Car, with all three Elantra N TCR teams on the same lap. However, racing never resumed as the lingering fog forced the decision to call an early finish with an hour left of the original 24.
The premature end confirmed Team Americas as victors, with no time for Lauck – driving for Team Europe at the time – to complete the comeback. Still, the Hyundai Motorsport celebrated the podium sweep in class at the end of a particularly challenging edition of the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
The Hyundai Driving Experience team started the defence of their VT2 Front class victory well. Their Fastback N Cup Car was leading the category once more after Michael Bohrer’s opening stint when Jens Dralle pitted with a puncture.
The delay dropped them to third in class, but Marcus Willhardt and Gyumin Kim brought the car up to second before the contest was suspended. Like their TCR counterparts, the ending to the race prevented them from launching and completing the final stage of their recovery, leaving them frustrated to finish second in the class.
2024 Nürburgring 24 Hours – Provisional Final Results
TCR Class
#831 Elantra N TCR (Filippi/Gottsacker/Morris/
#830 Elantra N TCR (Azcona/Basseng/Lauck) – 44 Laps – 2nd in Class – 49th Overall
#832 Elantra N TCR (Cao/Dong/He/Yan) – 44 Laps –3rd in Class – 50th Overall
VT2 Front Class
#486 Fastback N Cup Car (Bohrer/Dralle/Kim/Willhardt) – 40 Laps – 2nd in Class – 74th Overall
Comments are closed.