NEWS: New Qualifying Race for 2014 ADAC Nürburgring 24hr Race

Get your diary out N24 fans. This year's N24 has a brand new Qualifying Race – including more than 15 hours of action with the 24h Race teams, low ticket prices and "special highlights" for the fans, including some night lapping – all set for April 5th and 6th. 

The exciting new warm-up qualifying event gives fans a low cost, high octane access to the top N24 cars and teams – a full two months before the big race itself. See our report from last year here.
ADAC says the event offers the teams the opportunity to optimally prepare for the ADAC Zurich 24h Race in June. And they hope the new qualifying race in early April will be a hit for the crowds and race teams alike.
"Every single kilometre covered on the Nordschleife is valuable," explains Stefan Wendl, Team Manager of BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert. His team plans to contest the ADAC Zurich 24h Race with two BMWs Z4 GT3 and will make extensive use of the qualifying race. "In the off-season, BMW worked very hard on improving the car’s reliability," Wendl adds. "In the Dubai 24-Hour Race held early this year we were able to cover the entire distance without encountering any problems whatsoever. Now, we want to carry this experience over to the Nordschleife. And the 24h qualifying race is a great testing-opportunity on the way to achieving this goal."
Perhaps the most special highlight of the ADAC Qualifying Race 24h Race will be the first night qualifying session held on Saturday evening. From sunset, the teams will be testing for two and a half hours into the night. 

ADAC says: :"For the motor-racing enthusiasts, this session should be – apart from the six-hour qualifying race itself – the definite highlight of the event. For the teams, however, there is more to gain in the two qualifying sessions: here, they can secure one of 10 slots for the ADAC Zurich 24h-Race top-30-qualifying and prepare their cars even better for the main event in June as it was possible to date. "The fact that we are going to test into the night is a particularly positive aspect of the first qualifying session,” stresses Wendl. "This fact offers us the chance of attending to the lighting system and go into details while doing so. It may sound trite but if you want to be fast you first of all have to see as much of the track as possible. Therefore, the headlights are a really vital component but the opportunities to attend to them are rare." 

Meanwhile, contesting the qualifying race also is extremely attractive for the drivers. After all, newcomers and returnees can acquire the necessary Nordschleife expertise in just this one event. According to the ADAC Zurich 24h-Race regulations, you have to have competed in three VLN rounds to do so but due to the extreme long track times, an equivalent level of expertise now can be acquired in the ADAC Qualifying Race 24h Race on a single weekend.
And N24 fans can look forward to great specials and low ticket prices – with tickets from €15 (day
ticket adults, Saturday/Sunday) and €25 (weekend) respectively. And the tickets do not only include access to the GP-circuit grandstands and the paddock but also to the starting grid. In addition, it is planned to hold a big autographing sessions for the fans in the paddock. Of course, the access around the tree-lined Nordschleife is free. The ticket-price details and further details for the visitors will be published in time for the event at the event website, www.24h-rennen.de.

New to N24? Read our special issue FREE here to see why you should definitely be going to this unparalleled event!