Nurburgring 24 Hour Race

Overall Victory for Alzen/Bartels/Heger/Maylander in the Eifel

Within just one week, near standard Porsche 911 GT3-R racing sportscars have taken victory at two difficult long distance races: Following the GT triumph at Le Mans, Germans Bernd Maylander/Uwe Alzen/Michael Bartels /Altfrid Heger won the Nurburgring 24 Hour Race at the wheel of a GT3-R entered by the private Phoenix/Porsche Centre Koblenz Team. With this result the 911 GT3-R, which made its debut in June 1999, remains unbeaten in the GT3 category.

After 145 laps on both tracks, the GP track and the historic Nordschleife, (1 lap = 25.359 km), the four Porsche pilots relegated the pre-race favourite Chrysler Viper to finish in second place. At the same time, this victory means a new lap record. In 1990 a BMW completed 144 laps. This result marked the sixth overall victory for Porsche at this endurance classic, which was contested this year in front of 116,000 spectators.

Third place went to Harald Becker/Meinhard Rittenmeier/Harald Grohs/ Thomas Wiedemeier who contested the race driving a 996 GT3 Cup version.

Top 10 results: Driver Car Laps ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Uwe Alzen/Altfrid Heger/ Porsche 911 GT3-R 145 =3677.055 km Michael Bartels/Bernd Maylander

 2 Patrick Huisman/Peter Zakowski/     Chrysler Viper GTS-R  144
   Antony Beltoise                 

3 Harald Grohs/Harald Becker Porsche 996 GT3 Cup 140 Thomas Wiedemeier/Meinhard Rittenmeier

4 Kersten Jodexnis/Harald Weiland Porsche 911 GT3-R 137 Andreas Weiland/Jurgen Alzen

5 Michael Eschmann/Veith Kramer/ Porsche 993 Cup 135 Paul Hulverscheid/Paolo Spadacini

6 Peter Obermann/Willi Obermann/ BMW M3 133 Jorg Obermann/Hermann Tilke

7 Michael Bonk/PeterBonk/ BMW M3 Coupe 132 Reinhold Renger/Michael Weynkopf

8 Pierre Kaffer/Andreas Lautner/ BMW M3 132 Frank Lorenzo/Harald Jacksties

9 Roland Asch/Frank Schmickler/ BMW M3 132 Michael Krankenberg/Peter Oberndorfer

10 Jutta Kleinschmidt/Jochen Ubler/ Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 130 Klaus Niedzwiedz/Michael Podlogar