24h Nürburgring Qualifier

Walkenhorst Motorsport with a challenging 24h Nürburgring Qualifier weekend

The dress rehearsal for the ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring is history. Walkenhorst Motorsport took the opportunity for final set-up and tire tests, but also recorded two accidents.

Nürburgring. The 51st edition of the ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring will take place from May 18th to 21st, 2023. In preparation, the Walkenhorst Motorsport vehicles were already in action last weekend at the Nürburgring Qualifier.

As part of the 24-hour Nürburgring dress rehearsal, a two-hour race was contested on Saturday and a four-hour race on Sunday. The Eifel once again showed its variable side and offered all the weather conditions for the races – from sunshine to rain and hail, everything was there.

The two Pro-YOKOHAMA BMW M4 GT3s were driven at this event by Andy Soucek, Jesse Krohn and Jens Klingmann (#102) as well as Christian Krognes and Jakub Giermaziak in the #101. Henry Walkenhorst, Jörg Breuer and Sami-Matti Trogen took their places behind the wheel of the Pro-Am BMW M4 GT3 with starting number #100.

The Saturday session was mainly used for more extensive set-up and tire tests on the pro vehicles in order to be as well prepared as possible for the 24-hour race. Since enough data could be collected, the BMW M4 GT3 were deliberately parked before the end of the race. The #100 finished a good 16th overall in Saturday’s race, which equates to third place in the Pro-Am category. The newly formed line-up Walkenhorst, Breuer and Trogen were able to record valuable kilometers for the season highlight in a few weeks. The fast Finn Sami-Matti Trogen will compete for Walkenhorst Motorsport in the ADAC GT4 Germany this season and after the winter break he collected his first racing kilometers in the BMW M4 GT3.

Sunday had it all. Both the #101 and the Pro-Am vehicle with the #100 were involved in accidents through no fault of their own early on, so that both vehicles had to be parked in the pits before the first half of the race. The #102 stayed in the top 3 of the overall ranking for a long time and ultimately finished the race in a good sixth place. A technical problem with the fuel pump at the last pit stop ruined an even better result.

The #74 BMW M4 GT4 delivered a good performance on both days and celebrated two podium finishes in the SP10 class. The weekend marked the first GT4 event for Jarno D’Hauw, who had previously driven the Walkenhorst Motorsport Hyundai. He shared the cockpit with Florian Weber and Aris Balanian. The driver pairing is therefore well prepared for the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring.

Jörg Breuer, Managing Director of Walkenhorst Motorsport: “We have now completed three NLS events and the 24-hour qualifying weekend in all weather conditions that the Nordschleife has to offer. We are very satisfied with the performance of the vehicles and in particular with the tires from Yokohama. Unfortunately, the extremely unfortunate accidental damage to two BMW M4 GT3s means that we now have a few extra shifts. Nevertheless, our team is highly motivated to perfectly prepare our vehicles for the season highlight in mid-May.”