Once again, the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring is part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC). The Nordschleife hosts the second round of the championship this year and has attracted a number of international teams. Among them are several teams making their first appearance on the world’s longest racetrack.
High Class Racing is one of those teams and is already well established on the international endurance racing scene. Until now, however, the Danish-Spanish team has been better known for campaigning LMP2 prototypes and GT2 cars.
At the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season in Bathurst, the team claimed second place on its GT3 debut, securing an immediate podium finish.
At the Nürburgring, the #86 Porsche 911 GT3 R will be shared by Anders
Fjordbach (DEN) and Kerong Li (CHN), two members of the successful Bathurst
line-up. They will be joined by Hongli Ye (CHN) and former Porsche works driver
Harry King (GBR). The two Chinese drivers and the Briton had to secure their Nordschleife permit in advance.
“The challenge of the Intercontinental GT Challenge lies, of course, in the logistics,
the local regulations and the vastly different venues. This is our first appearance
at the 24h Nürburgring. Since we are based near Barcelona, logistics are much simpler here than in Bathurst. On the other hand, the typical Eifel weather presents its own challenges here at the Nürburgring,” said Jose Balobo, the team manager of High Class Racing.
“Bathurst and the Nürburgring Nordschleife are both absolutely legendary circuits,
and it is a real honour to compete here against such a strong field. At the same time,
with the Intercontinental GT Challenge standings in mind, our aim is to score as many
points as possible and, if we can, carry our momentum from Australia into this race. But first, we have to reach the finish line. The weather is naturally a challenge here, but at least there are no kangaroos. Every IGTC circuit has its own character,” said Anders Fjordbach.
Harry King is equally impressed by the Nordschleife: “I was still able to complete my Permit A in VLN3, which meant I could step in to support the High Class guys at relatively short notice. Driving here is simply unique – the circuit, the fans, it is all
incredible and tremendous fun. At the same time, you have to stay fully alert at all times because the track is so demanding and there is always so much happening around you. But I believe that, with the support of Manthey and Michelin, we have a competitive package.”