Their best prize yet twice around the clock at the infamous Green Hell

Aston Martin’s most successful racing car achieved the British performance brand’s best-ever result in the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring, finishing third in the 54th running of the world-famous event, last weekend.

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of its debut in the twice-around-the-clock race, on the notoriously challenging 15.8-mile ‘Green Hell’ set deep in Germany’s Eiffel Mountain region, Aston Martin and works drivers Mattia Drudi, Christian Krognes and Nicki Thiim raced the Walkenhorst Motorsport-run Vantage GT3 to third overall in arguably the toughest endurance race on the motorsport calendar.

The result marked a new high watermark for Aston Martin, as well as for the 2018 Spa 24 Hours-winning German team; since neither has previously finished on the overall podium in the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

“This is an outstanding result,” said Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, Adam Carter. “There is no more robust a test for a racing car than the Nürburgring 24 Hours, and Vantage passed it with flying colours. It’s certainly no less than everyone at Walkenhorst Motorsport and Aston Martin Racing deserved, given the incredible amount of hard work, preparation and skill that it takes to build a result like this.

“To be in the podium fight for 24 hours, and to be one of the race’s principal contenders at the top of the order once again underlines the pedigree of Vantage, and it is a fabulous way to begin the summer as we look ahead to more great opportunities in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Spa 24 Hours next month.”

The #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Vantage was one of more than 40 GT3s entered in the SP9 class, brought into the global media spotlight further this year by the participation of four-time Formula One® world champion Max Verstappen. Running in the Pro division of SP9, Drudi and Krognes shone in qualifying to place the Aston Martin first, and then second, in their respective Top Qualifying sessions. Thiim ultimately put the car a respectable 11th on the 161-car grid in Top Qualifying 3.

Knowing the race’s reputation for chaotic opening hours, Walkenhorst strategically pitted earlier than much of the field to offset its fuel plan by two laps, allowing Thiim to undercut several rivals and move up into the top five. This is where the Aston Martin remained for the rest of the race. Its strong form was aided by the uncharacteristically low ambient temperatures (3°C to 5°C) which played to the strengths of Pirelli’s tyres.

Krognes raced Vantage up into second in his stint, once Thiim’s opening double-stint had been completed, before handing over to Drudi who had to contend with the first of many of the race’s intermittent rain showers. The Italian characteristically absorbed the pressure and carved out a 40-second lead over the field.

Through a difficult and chaotic night, which saw the demise of several fancied runners, the leaders’ alternate strategies converged and the Walkenhorst trio found themselves in a three-way fight for third between a Lamborghini and a BMW, all behind the two front-running Mercedes. That became a battle for second when Verstappen’s car ran into trouble with less than two hours to go.

Entrusted with bringing the car home to a famous podium, Drudi set about closing a more than two-minute gap to the second-placed Lamborghini. When that car was served an 86-second Code 60 violation penalty, the Italian who again contended with slippery conditions on intermediate tyres, charged into second position only to have his hopes dashed cruelly by a Code 60. Delayed by this on the final lap when he was almost home on the Döttinger Hohe straight, Drudi thus finished third.

“It was frustrating that we couldn’t finish second,” said Drudi, who has stood on the podium in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship already this year, and along with Thiim won the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe at Paul Ricard. “But we can be very proud of finishing on the podium, Aston Martin’s first at the Nürburgring. This track is already very challenging, but with the rain and the level of competition it was very hard. In the final stint I had to push because I knew we could get ahead of the Lamborghini, and so the Code 60 at the end was a shame, but still, this is something I will remember forever.”

Since returning to sportscar racing in the mid-2000s, Aston Martin has been an ever-present at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, whether through works-entered cars or with its most trusted partner teams. From 2006, through each iteration of Vantage, the Wings have claimed 10 class victories and more than 30 podium finishes.

Source material – Aston Martin Racing