This weekend in Germany the 24 Hours of the Nürbürgring is on the program, one of the most beautiful sports car races of the year. The race takes place on the more than 25 kilometers long Nürbürgring-Nordschleife, nicknamed ‘the Green Hell’. That the circuit did not steal that nickname, it became clear again: due to heavy fog, the race was halted on Saturday evening at 9.30 pm. There will certainly be no further driving before 7 o’clock on Sunday morning.
The 24 Hours of Nürbürgring was canceled on Saturday evening at 9.30 pm, with 18 hours to go, because the descending fog made it too dangerous for the pilots. The race directors initially waited to see if a quick restart could be started, but after just over an hour the situation had not improved. It was decided not to take any risks: there will certainly not be any further racing before 7 o’clock on Sunday morning, at 6 o’clock the race director will bring a new update.
Our compatriot Dries Vanthoor had already disappeared from the race when the race was stopped. Vanthoor had gone off track in the first hours and ended up under a tire wall, luckily without any problems. Our compatriot was able to return his battered Audi to the pits, but it was impossible to continue driving.
With, among others, Fréderic Vervisch, Laurens Vanthoor (Dries’ older brother, ed.) and Maxime Martin, some other experienced Belgians were still present when the match was stopped. The race was also plagued by heavy rain in the initial phase, which resulted in hallucinatory images.