Emotional Stippler Hails “Last Chance” for N24 Win With Audi

Frank Stippler was visibly emotional after taking his third overall victory in the Nürburgring 24, noting afterwards that it was “likely the last chance” to triumph at the event with longtime brand Audi.

The Nürburgring veteran was declared the winner of the 52nd edition of the Eifel endurance classic alongside Christopher Mies, Dennis Marschall and Ricardo Feller.

The results of the race, however, remain provisional for the time being, as ROWE Racing has filed an appeal after a protest lodged against the race-ending procedure was thrown out on Sunday evening.

The No. 16 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II came out on top in the shortest-ever edition of the N24, which was halted for more than 14 hours as a result of fog.

The race then restarted for five exploratory laps behind the safety car with the No. 16 Audi at the head of the pack, which allowed Feller to take the checkered flag when the race was declared.

When the call was made, Stippler was visibly overcome with emotions in the garage, later noting in the post-race press conference that it could have been his last opportunity to win with Audi.

The Ingolstadt brand went without a full factory presence at this year’s race for the first time in more than a decade after it shuttered its factory-supported GT3 activities at the start of this year.

It was only represented by three cars in the SP9 class, with the pair of Scherer Sport PHX cars joined by a Pro-Am entry from JUTA Racing.

“It was likely the last chance to win the N24 with an Audi because Audi is disappearing from GT racing as well as I’m getting older, I’m 49 years old and I don’t know how many chances there might be in the future,” Stippler said.

“So to achieve this in the last year with Audi after 21 years with Audi and 16 years with Phoenix couldn’t be much better and it’s more or less like a dream.

“All three victories I achieved here are very emotional and very special and I’m more or less speechless.”

The key in securing Audi’s seventh N24 win was the battle Mies had with the No. 72 BMW M4 GT3 of Dan Harper on Saturday evening, prior to the red flag.

The two drivers repeatedly traded the lead back and forth, with Mies eventually gaining the upper hand with an overtake on the Dottinger Hohe.

“We were texting a bit back and forth on Instagram and I told him that it was the greatest fight I ever had on the Nordschleife,” Mies later said.

“We were passing each other and we didn’t even have the smallest contact. We were racing super hard and fair and I really enjoyed that.

“It was such big respect between us but also it was critical to go in the front because I saw the fog coming more and more and at one stage it was clear it was going to be red-flagged at some stage.

“And you never know when they are going to restart the race [or] if they are going to restart the race like we saw today. It was important to get in front.

“Also, we had the fuel advantage, they had to come in for fuel but if they would have red flagged it a lap earlier, [they] would have been in front and got a free pitstop. So it was crucial to get in front. It was amazing, it was good fun.”

BMW’s Harper Believes They Had Package to Win

Harper, for his part, took his first overall N24 podium alongside Max Hesse and Charles Weerts by finishing in third place.

In the process, the former Junior Team duo of Harper and Hesse finished the race for the first time since stepping up to GT3, having retired from the previous three editions.

Despite that, Harper admitted the team ‘maybe had the package to win’ after it started the race from pole position.

“Of course it’s bittersweet but the second part of it [is] sweet,” Harper told Sportscar365.

“It’s the first podium, we haven’t finished the race in GT3 yet. We’ve always been very quick and [had] pace to be on the podium but things just haven’t fell into place.

“This year, we maybe we had the package to win it. I believe we did, the team were fantastic, the car straight away was in an excellent window and we were the quickest car through all the qualifying

“Max put us in pole position for the race and we were always in the fight. It was such tough times, there was three or four times where it was really really difficult to choose the right tire.

“That’s so critical right here but I think in the end we can be happy to come away with a P3 because it very easily could have not been so.”