Frank Stippler, Christopher Mies, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall were declared the winners of the 52nd Nurburgring 24 Hours that was ended early with just seven hours and 22 minutes of race time completed.
The race was initially red-flagged just before midnight on Saturday due to thick fog that descended, with an initial restart indicated for Sunday morning when the fog was due to lift from the track.
But in the end the red flag was maintained for 14 hours before five laps behind the safety car were completed by all runners to determine if the race could be restarted. But with fog still hanging over the Nordschleife the race result was declared early.
Rowe, who finished seventh in the final results, protested the result as it was one of several cars to pit under the five safety car laps. The protest was rejected but the team intends to appeal the race result.
The team aims to replace the chequered flag with a red flag after the safety car laps, as in this scenario the times for the next pitstop would be added, which would grant Rowe victory due to the pitstops under safety car.
It makes this year’s event the shortest distance and shortest race time completed at the Nurburgring 24 Hours: Just 50 laps and seven hours and 22 minutes of race time. It beat the 2021 record of 59 laps and nine hours and 30 minutes of race time.
At the time of the red flag on Saturday night, the #16 Audi was leading so duly picked up the win, handing the German manufacturer its seventh win at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. It was also Mies and Stippler’s third overall victory at the event, while for Feller and Marschall it was their first win.
The #911 Manthey EMA Porsche squad of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, Thomas Preining and Ayhancan Guven took second place, with the polesitting #72 RMG BMW of Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Charles Weerts classified third.
