The factory-backed commitment of the tradition-steeped British brand in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring supported by Bentley Team ABT for the first time ended in success. The #38 yellow Continental GT3 defied all the challenges of the ‘Green Hell’, was running both quickly and reliably, and reached the finishing line in position seven. As a result, Bentley was the best foreign marque in what is arguably the world’s toughest car race.
The ‘Green Hell’ lived up to its reputation in every respect once more. The strange highlight of the 44th running of the iconic endurance race: a hail shower that transformed the track into an un-drivable toboggan run on Saturday afternoon and caused the race to be stopped for three hours. Partially torrential rain and thick fog added even more spice. “This was no doubt one of the most challenging 24-hour races the Eifel has ever seen,” said Team Director Christian Abt. “Thank you to our seven drivers who kept a cool head throughout these difficult conditions. Thank you to the pit crew that made a super-human effort in recent days and weeks. And thank you to Bentley for the trust placed in us, and for the support without which all this would not have been possible.”
With the leap of its two Continental GT3 cars into the Top-30-Qualifying Bentley Team ABT laid the foundation for success. The two impressive coupés stood their ground in the large and powerful pack at the front of the field following the race start and withstood the storm that hit the Eifel on Saturday afternoon unscathed as well. Further into the race, the two Bentley cars progressively advanced in front of an impressive crowd of 185,000 spectators (throughout the weekend). Then, shortly before midnight, a setback for the white #37 Continental GT3: on the slippery tarmac Steven Kane lost control of the vehicle and touched the track barrier. The required repair took 45 minutes and caused the driver quartet to drop to position 101. That Steven Kane, Marco Holzer, Christer Jöns and Christopher Brück, who was entered for both cars, were still classified in a strong 17th place in the end was further proof of the performance capability of the Bentley Continental GT3 developed and built in England.
While many competitors got into trouble in the challenging conditions the yellow Continental GT3 of Bentley Team ABT completed lap after lap and pitted only for refuelling, tyre and driver changes. In the final hour the quartet with Christopher Brück, Christian Menzel, Guy Smith and Fabian Hamprecht still overtook the quickest Audi and clinched seventh place, scoring the best result of a Continental GT3 in a 24-hour race to date. In addition, Bentley in what was only its second Eifel ‘marathon’ was the third-best manufacturer at the ‘Ring’ after Mercedes and BMW.
Bentley Chairman and Chief Executive Wolfgang Dürheimer, who watched the race from lights to flag at the venue together with Member of the Board for Engineering Rolf Frech, joined Bentley Team ABT in celebrating this success: “We are very proud that, due to a strong team performance, we have managed to put the #38 Bentley in position 7 on seeing the chequered flag in an extremely strong competitive environment. Our sister car, in P17, finished in the top 20 as well. Thus, Bentley, in its second run in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, proved the high performance and reliability of the Continental GT3 once more. The Nordschleife requires a lot of experience in order to be able to win, particularly in the weather conditions we encountered this time. We’re going to come back even stronger in 2017.”