The first race of the weekend as part of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers was contested by the youngtimers of the German Historic Endurance Championship (DHLM). Oliver Boyke and Michael Joos (Porsche 911 RSR IMSA) were able to celebrate as winners after the three-hour race. The new racing series – a merger of the Youngtimer Trophy, Henning Meyersrenken, and ADAC Nordrhein – will contest four races of three hours each this year, exclusively on the combination of the Nürburgring GP circuit and the Nordschleife.
In the qualifying for the best starting positions on Friday afternoon, the trio André Kunkel / Michael Funke / Heiko Hammel succeeded in capturing pole position in the Porsche RSR IMSA with a time of 9:16.569 min. With a gap of a good second, the Cologne brothers Georg and Björn Griesemann followed, also in a Porsche. Oliver Boyke and Michael Joos had to settle for third place behind them with a gap of a good 13.5 seconds.
The start on Saturday at noon took place in sunshine and spring-like temperatures. The polesetter around Michael Funke was able to make perfect use of the pole position and take the lead right at the beginning of the race. Behind them, a battle ignited between the Griesemann brothers, Boyke / Joos, and Ralf Schall in the Mercedes 190 Evo, who had taken on the race as usual as a soloist.
At halftime, the polesetters initially had to leave the lead to the competition due to an early stop and a switch to André Kunkel, while Griesemann / Griesemann and Boyke / Joos chased each other in their IMSA Porsches across the track. However, a stuck accelerator pedal on the green Porsche 911 RSR in the iconic Kümmerling design caused all hopes for success to burst. An attempt was initially made to fix the problem during an unscheduled pit stop, but after just one more short lap of the Grand Prix circuit, the Griesemann brothers had to retire the racer for safety reasons.
Michael Joos was in the lead a good hour before the end of the race, but had to head for the pits again shortly before the end. Pursuer Heiko Hammel was at this point sometimes more than 15 seconds per lap faster and was catching up with giant strides. After the final phase of pit visits, Joos was then a good half minute ahead of the approaching Hammel, with around 20 minutes of driving time remaining. Just under eight seconds before the end of the race, Joos passed the start and finish line again and turned into the final lap. Joos was able to fend off the last attack attempts of the charging Hammel and thus celebrate the first victory of the season.
The next round of the German Historic Endurance Championship will take place in a good four weeks as part of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring in mid-May.