Even before the third qualifying session for the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring had begun on May 26, 2022, the first engines in the paddock were already cooling down again. Not because the technology had given up the ghost, but because they had already done their job in the first race of the weekend.
At 9:20 am, the starting lights of the ADAC 24h-Classic turned green and sent a field of 158 historic racing cars onto the 25.4-kilometer lap around the Nürburg. Among them were old acquaintances such as the NSU TT, BMW 02 and Porsche 911, but also some exotics in the form of the Mercury Cougar, Peugeot 309 and Renault 12.
Victory went to Ralf Schall in the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 with a lead of almost three minutes over Daniel Schrey and Wolfgang Pohl in the Kremer-Porsche 935 K1. Places two to ten were shared by Porsche and BMW drivers. The fourth brand, Patrick Peeters' Ford Escort RS 2000, only followed in eleventh place.
Contrary to what the name might suggest, however, the classic cars in the ADAC 24h-Classic do not compete in a 24-hour race. The black-and-white checkered flag drops for the old-timers after just three hours. After all, they don't want to steal the show from the modern racers.
