Part 2 Qualifying

On May 17, the first qualifying session started from 7:30pm.

Tobias Schulze of Team GT Academy entered the course, and marked 9 minutes 7.782 seconds straight off in the first timed lap. Though the other 3 drivers following suit did not succeed in outdoing him, the team secured 50th place overall.

May 18, the following day, the second qualifying session started at 9:35am. Team GT Academy had prioritized setup and was not going to aggressively go for lap times, but with excellent conditions rivals start to mark higher lap times. Assessing the situation, Tobias makes an attempt to shorten their record after changing to fresh brake disks. With only 9 minutes left in the qualifying, he manages to squeeze out a time of 8 minutes, 59 seconds and 695 milliseconds. You can see the incredible lap driven by Tobias here:

Part 3 Final Race: First Half

Saturday, May 19. Two hundred and thirty five thousand spectators, the most they've ever had has gathered on the course side to watch the 40th Nürburgring 24 Hour Race.

Again in this year's 24 hour race, the four German works teams of Porsche, BMW, Audi, and Mercedes clash, with Aston Martin, Chevy Corvette, the new McLaren MP4 12C GT3 joining in on the fray. BMW has withdrawn the M3 they had been competing in the E1XP2 Class with, and has brought a Z4 GT3 for the SP9 Class. From Japan there is the Lexus LFA (SP8), Impreza (SP3T), Toyota 86 (SP3), all going for the finish line 24 hours ahead.

These images show highlights of the race focusing on Team GT Academy, from the beginning of the race week to halfway through the Final Race.

Part 4 Final Race: 2nd Half

At 4pm on May 20, the race has ended amidst the cheers of 235 thousand spectators. Team GT Academy has achieved 30th place out of 174 cars, and a SP8T class victory.

The overall win went to the Audi R8 LMS Ultra number 3 car, due to several cars in the lead dropping out. Japanese cars also showed incredible performance this year, with the Lexus LFA (Car 83), Impreza (Car 133) and Toyota 86 (Car 166) all winning their respective SP8, SP3T, and SP3 classes.

See for yourself the excitement in the latter half of the final race: