The Eifelrennen is one of the dates that fans of historic racing mark in red in their calendars early on. The traditional event at the Nürburgring is one of the highlights of the season.
Delicacies and variety
Many had been eagerly awaiting the event, and expectations were high. The program featured a number of treats, such as the Group C race, the popular "Battle of the Dwarves", the FHR HTGT Dunlop Trophy, the Formula Vau and Formula 3 Monoposti races.
Eifel weather conspicuous by its absence
The Eifel connoisseur was amazed, not a single drop of rain, no drizzle in the morning hours, warm temperatures! Clear visibility around the Nordschleife, no weather-related delays, a summer weekend as it is written in the book attracted many weekend excursionists.
The fact that the grandstands remained comparatively empty despite the ideal conditions must not have pleased the organizers.
Nordschleife atmosphere
Around the Nordschleife, however, there was little sign of the dwindling number of visitors. The parking lot at the Brünnchen was full to bursting, tents were set up everywhere, people were barbecuing, laughing, taking photos and filming. And when there were delays due to an early accident during the three-hour race, one or two people simply put another sausage on the grill and opened another bottle of beer.
Meeting point in the historic paddock
Many a visitor got stuck in the historic paddock. Early on Saturday morning, the pre-war racing cars were ready and waiting for a closer inspection. The owners were happy to provide information and there was also plenty to eat and drink in this environment.
Highlight 3-hour race
For many Nürburgring fans, the highlight was of course the three-hour race. The race was due to start at 15:35 on Saturday, but there was a serious accident at the start which damaged the crash barriers. Repairs took almost an hour before the race, which was held on the Nordschleife in combination with the Grand Prix circuit, could continue.
The eventual winners were Peter Scheufen and Jörn Schmidt-Staade in their fast Porsche 911 ST, closely followed by Stefan Oberdörster and Andreas Gülden in a Porsche 911 S. Third place went to the Porsche 911 ST of the Pedro and Luco Sanchez team from Mexico. Fifth place went to the women's team with Gabriele Spangenberg and Claudia Hürtgen at the wheel of a BMW 2002 Ti. The first ten places were shared by five Porsches, two BMWs, and one Lotus Elan, Alfa Romeo GTAm and Ford Capri each.
The Porsche Kremer Night of Legends
For the third time, the traditional Cologne-based company Porsche Kremer hosted the Night of Legends. The more than 50 Porsche Kremer vehicles made their rounds on the Grand Prix circuit in a rather leisurely but majestic manner.
Just like last year, a glorious sunset provided fantastic lighting conditions. But you had to wait until late into the night to enjoy this golden parade.
Elephant race with Le Mans start
On Sunday, the drivers of the pre-war racing cars lined up for the photogenic and popular Le Mans start.
When famous racing drivers are at the start, a crowd of photographers forms very quickly, as is the case with Jochen Mass, of course:
Jochen Mass sprinted around the track together with the other drivers and then bumped around the Grand Prix circuit in his Mercedes Benz SSK.
Thrilling battles between the dwarves
As always, spirits soared as the smallest, but not the quietest and certainly not the slowest, compact racing cars set off to complete two 25-minute scoring runs. As always, the aim was to drive evenly, but despite the uniformity regulations, the drivers were on the attack and fought for every position. The going was tough! Gerald Dale's Mini Cooper was usually in the lead.
Once again, there were numerous retirements, but hardly any accidents, as was recently the case at the Hockenheimring. There were, however, a few minor slips.
Dr. Hein Hans-Werner in an NSU 1000 TTS was the winner in the regularity classification, Peter Altmann in an Autobianchi A112 Abarth came second and Kaja Schygulla, who despite her slip-up in her Rover Mini Cooper achieved regular times, came third.
Thinned-out Group C
A large field of sports prototypes from the eighties and early nineties had been hoped for, but some were somewhat disappointed by the fact that there were just over a handful of sports cars.
Nevertheless, there was a reunion with the Mercedes-Benz C11, the Porsche 962 and other prototypes, and the soundscape also brought back wistful memories of old endurance races. Fans certainly enjoyed this touch of Le Mans at the Nürburgring!
The Mercedes Benz C11 clearly won the one-hour race, taking almost a minute off the runner-up, a Verskanda, and only the Spice SE88 remained on the same lap in third place.
Beautiful sports and touring cars in the HTGT race
A particularly diverse and attractive field of 46 vehicles started the Historic Touring Car and GT Trophy race.
From the Porsche 907, which crossed the finish line as the winner with Henning Meyersrenken at the wheel, to the mid-engined GinettaG12 with Felix Haas at the wheel (2nd place), to the Chevron B16 under Max-Gerrit Westhoff (3rd place), many of the beautiful and fast competition cars that have also caused a sensation at the Nürburgring in the past were at the start.
Of course, the Porsche 911 S was also missing, but some fans were particularly on the lookout for the Renault Alpine A 110, the Lotus 26 R or the Marcos 1800 GT.
The formula cars also offered good racing, with Max Blees in the Brabham BT 15 coming out on top in both races for the historic Formula 3.
Attractive supporting programs and demonstration drives rounded off the program and provided entertainment on the race track.
All results are documented on the organizer's website.
Photo galleries
Extensive photo documentations with over 500 pictures were published in separate picture galleries.
- Main gallery (Best Of)
- Battle of the Dwarves
- Group C
- 3 hours race
- Pre-war cars
- Historic DTM
- Porsche Kremer Night of Legends
- FHR HTGT
- Regularity test on the Nordschleife (GLP)
