Officially called "ADAC 24h Rennen Nürburgring" in German ('ADAC 24 hour Race Nürburgring'), it was introduced in 1970 by the ADAC as an official race, unlike the earlier endurance contests that covered 12, 24 (in 1961 and 1967), 36, 84 and even 96 hours, like the Marathon de la Route. This substitute for the Liège-Rome-Liège and Liège-Sofia-Liège rallies was held on the Nürburgring from 1965 to 1971.
The race is similar to the Spa 24 Hours, which had been introduced in 1924, following the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The ADAC had held its first 1000 km Nürburgring sports car racing event in 1953. As the 1000 km Spa had been introduced in 1966, the 24h at the Ring gave both circuits a pair of endurance racing events at very long tracks, at least until Spa was shortened in 1979.
The Nurburgring 24 Hours is known for its wide variety of cars. In 2023, 135 cars in 20 classes were entered. Available classes include:
The 24h-Special classes that consist of pure race cars that may compete in other race series. It consists of the classes SP1 to SP8 differentiated by engine displacement with an optional suffix T for turbocharged engines, the SP9 class for FIA GT3 cars, the SP10 class for SRO GT4 cars.
The VLN production cars classes that intend to allow relatively low-cost racing with near-series cars. It consists of several classes of normally-aspirated cars (V3 to V6), and several classes of turbocharged cars (VT1 to VT3, with separate classes for front-wheel drive cars), differentiated by engine displacement.
Cup classes (BMW M240i, BMW M2 CS, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport).
TCR touring car.
AT class for cars using alternative fuels.
Due to the length of the track, the Nürburgring 24 Hours has unusual safety procedures compared to other modern professional endurance races. Safety cars are not used except during red flag and ensuing restart situations, double yellow flags indicate a local speed limit of 120 km/h (75 mph), and code 60 flags, used locally for incidents warranting a safety car on shorter tracks, limit the speed to 60 km/h (37 mph).
The Nürburgring 24 Hours has several support races on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, some happening on the GP Track, some happening on the Nordschleife only, some happening on the combined track.
2023: The #30 Frikadelli Racing Team won the race in a Ferrari 296 GT3 completing a total of 162 laps.
2022: The 50th anniversary 2022 race took place on 28–29 May 2022. A total of 159 laps were completed by the winning car #15 from Scherer Sport Team Phoenix.
2021: The race was won by the Porsche-based Manthey Racing, who was forced to sit out the previous year's race due to COVID-19 concerns involving the team crew.
2020: Rowe Racing (BMW M6 GT3) won the event, the first for BMW in 10 years, although the race was interrupted for most of the night due to inclement weather.
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