Nürburgring Wednesday Notebook

***While there was no on-track activity on Wednesday, buildup for the 53rd running of the Nürburgring 24 saw the return of the popular Adenauer Racing Day event. Cars and drivers assembled for the traditional preview in Adenau town center, which was not held last year due to road work.

***Peter Elkmann and Pavel Lefterov are late additions to the lineup for the No. 7 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, teaming up with Danny Soufi and Maximilian Paul. While Lefterov raced with Konrad at the N24 in 2023, 43-year-old Elkmann makes his SP9 event debut. The German comes from a varied motorsport background that includes junior single seaters, superkarts, touring cars and LMP3 competition.

***Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed has unveiled a special livery in collaboration with partner Bilstein for the No. 14 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, part of what it has called the ‘Case 24H’ campaign built around ‘finding the perfect damper setup for the most demanding track in the world.’ The design consists of Bilstein’s trademark yellow and blue in a street art spray look, combined with ‘barrier tape, newspaper clippings and mysterious sketches.’

**While Mercedes-AMG still has the two European rounds of the Intercontinental GT Challenge ahead of it, head of customer racing Stefan Wendl confirmed to Sportscar365 that the brand is set to be represented by two Pro entries in September’s Suzuka 1000km. Mercedes-AMG won what was then called the Suzuka 10 Hours in 2018 with GruppeM Racing and a lineup consisting of Maro Engel, Raffaele Marciello and Tristan Vautier.

***The No. 54 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 30 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo both also have special liveries. While Dinamic’s predominantly black color scheme is part of its partnership with tire supplier Pirelli, Walkenhorst is using its car to raise awareness for the RTL Spendenmarathon, an annual 24-hour telethon on German television benefiting multiple children’s charities around the world.

***ADAC Nordrhein published the latest revision to the Balance of Performance table for the event on Wednesday, which has set the minimum weight for the Porsche 911 GT3 R at 1320 kg. The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, entered by Konrad Motorsport, has retained the minimum weight of 1300 kg that made it the lightest car on last year’s grid. The BMW M4 GT3 EVO is the heaviest car at 1355 kg, while the debuting Ford Mustang GT3 is set at 1330 kg.

***Twelve out of 27 cars in the SP9 category are eligible to score IGTC manufacturers’ points this weekend, with all four registered brands (BMW, Mercedes-AMG, Ferrari and Porsche) represented on the grid. Click here to view the full list.

***Notably, while the IGTC grid features three Pro-Am squads, no cars have been registered as Independent Cup entries. Independent Cup drivers are allowed to disgard one race from their points tally.

***Like last year, the N24 is the only round of the IGTC season with an open tire ruleset. Six manufacturers are represented, which is one more than in 2024 as Hankook Motorsport enters a single Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Jongkyum Kim, Roelof Bruins, Marco Holzer and Steven Cho.

***Michelin is the dominant manufacturer in the class, with eleven cars running the French brand’s tires. Five entries run on Goodyear tires, followed by Pirelli, Yokohama (four each) and Falken (two).

***Defending winners Scherer Sport PHX have notably opted for a change of tire supplier on its No. 1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. The car ran on Yokohama rubber during earlier NLS rounds, but will move to join the sister No. 16 Porsche 911 GT3 R by running on Michelin tires instead.

***The German squad, which is based a stones’ throw from the Nurburgring in nearby Meuspath, has given both its cars nicknames for the Eifel endurance classic. The No. 1 Audi has been christened ‘Werner’ as a tribute to Werner Frowein, the former head of Audi Quattro GmbH who oversaw the creation of the R8 LMS program. The No. 16 Porsche, meanwhile, is going by ‘Sally,’ a reference to the blue Porsche 911 that stars in the 2006 Disney film Cars.

***Notably, the switch from Yokohama to Michelin has cost the No. 1 Audi its guaranteed slot in Friday’s Top Qualifying, as an updated list published by ADAC Nordrhein shows. The sister No. 16 Porsche was also removed from its Top Qualifying position after it was found that its “recorded engine parameters did not match the reference data.” Both cars will therefore need to secure one of the five remaining slots during Qualifying 1 or Qualifying 2 on Thursday..

***Twelve drivers have traveled to the Nürburgring having just competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans just a few days ago as the triple header of 24-hour races rolls on. Overall podium finishers Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor are joined by Maxime Martin, Luca Stolz, Daniel Juncadella, Julien Andlauer, Mattia Drudi, Loek Hartog, Dennis Olsen, Augusto Farfus, Kelvin van der Linde and Raffaele Marciello.

***The list of drivers who will then contest next week’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is even longer. Martin, Stolz, Drudi, Hartog, Farfus, Van der Linde and Marciello, who contest all three races, will be joined by Nicki Thiim, Fabian Schiller, Bastian Buus, Ayhancan Guven, Thomas Preining, Charles Weerts, Ugo de Wilde, Christian Krognes, David Pittard, Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli, Maro Engel, Mirko Bortolotti, Luca Engstler, Jordan Pepper, Arjun Maini, Sven Mueller, Alessio Picariello, Jesse Krohn, Marco Mapelli, Joel Sturm, Tim Heinemann, Maximilian Paul, Kazuto Kotaka, Yuichi Nakayama, Tim Sandtler, Jens Klingmann, Oliver Soederstroem, Salman Owega, David Schumacher, Felipe Fernandez Laser, David Perel, Max Hofer, Dennis Marschall, Axcil Jefferies, Morris Schuring, Steven Palette, Tatsuya Kataoka, Ricardo Feller, Patric Niederhauser, Mikael Grenier and Dylan Pereira.

***N24 organizers have announced an extension of its current partnership with Hyundai, which will see the Korean brand’s cars continued to be used as official vehicles for race control and management and Hyundai branding shown at several locations around the circuit. Hyundai Motorsport has three cars entered in this year’s event, including the No. 831 Elantra N TCR driven by Robert Wickens, Mason Filippi, Michael Lewis and Bryson Morris.

***N24 race director Walter Hornung said:  “We are delighted that Hyundai N is continuing its partnership with the ADAC Ravenol 24H Nürburgring. This partnership is about much more than brand promotion around the track. By providing an important part of our vehicle fleet, Hyundai N is making a direct contribution to making the biggest race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife safe and fair. It’s great to know that this partner will continue to be at our side.”

***The Hyundai TCR entry for Wickens and his North American co-drivers comes as part of a joint effort between Target Competition and Bryan Herta Autosport, with the latter also active in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Watkins Glen this weekend. Notably, team co-owner Bryan Herta isn’t present at either event, but will instead be on-site at the NTT IndyCar Series round at Road America to serve as strategist for Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood.

***Track action for the N24 kicks off on Thursday with the first two qualifying sessions. An opening two-hour session kicks off at 1 p.m. CEST (7 a.m. EST). The second session, which starts at 8 p.m. CEST (2 p.m. EST), has been split in two segments. Only SP9 cars are allowed to go out on track for the first 15 minutes, before the remainder of the field joins for the remaining three hours and 15 minutes.