Nurburging 24 Hours – Land Motorsport snatches victory from the jaws of defeat

Endurance racing isn’t always nail-biting in the latter hours of the race, but this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hours certainly was. It began cleanly for all of the Audi R8s entered in the event, but especially for the #29 Land Motorsport/Montaplast car. The Audi Sport Team Land drivers Christopher Mies, Connor De Phillippi, Kelvin van der Linde, and Markus Winkelhock started from second on the grid, but quickly took the lead, ran a nearly flawless race for 125 laps.

As it goes in endurance racing, anything can happen, and in the case of the 29 car, it did happen. After a routine stop for fuel, tires and driver change, the R8 began to struggle noticeably to get up to speed. It was clear on the out lap that this car was not right. All attempts by the driver to “reboot” the car proved unsuccessful, so the only option was to loop back around into the pits, where with the help of frantic mechanics and a laptop, they got the car running, mostly correctly.

Unfortunately, this extra time in the pits not only cost the 29 car first place, but also second place. The team was visibly gutted, and even though the #9 Audi inherited the lead, it was hard to not feel for the Land team. It seemed the best they could hope for was some bad luck to befall their competitors, as they were over a minute behind the second place car.

Luck sometimes works in mysterious ways. Upon making what would be their final stop of the race, the Land team was trying as hard as they could to make this stop perfect. They immediately plugged in the laptop, they did everything perfectly – almost. When the car was lowered off of the jacks the driver thought he was released. However, the fuel was still being filled, and needed to continue to be filled. The car was rolled back, and fueling was resumed.

Almost as if on cue, as if mother nature decided the 29 car really should win this race, it started raining. Immediately the car went back on the jacks, and rain tires were mounted. The team got the luck they needed. Without the slight bobble in the pits, they may not have had the time to mount up the tires.

Knowing that the first and second place cars were on slicks, Kelvin van der Linde took the 29 out and drove nearly flawlessly to catch and pass both contenders.

It was an incredible finish to one of our favorite races.