Hyundai Motorsport’s i30 Sedan N TCR teams have won the TCR Class of the Nürburgring 24 Hours for the fifth consecutive time, adding to Hyundai’s incredibly impressive record in the category and race.
The all-German team of Marc Basseng, Christer Joens and Manuel Lauck dominated the event. Lauck placed the car on class pole position with a lap of 8:52:924 after a planned shakedown in Friday’s Qualifying 3 became an impromptu time trial as a clear track presented an undeniable opportunity. At the head of the class throughout the race, they steadily climbed the overall order as the frantic pace led to issues and incidents for teams throughout the near 140-strong entry. They finished 22nd overall with Hyundai Motorsport N24 debutant, Christer Joens, crossing the line with a three-lap lead over their Team Americas stablemates, who finished 25th overall.
Robert Wickens was given the honour of bringing the Bryan Herta Autosport-supported entry to the flag – a fitting end to a journey to the race which began at the start of 2024. The Canadian was fortunate enough to have several highlight stints as he and American teammates Mason Filippi, Michael Lewis and Bryson Morris kept a routine rotation through the race. Wickens took the restart following an early red flag after a power outage struck the pit garages and Race Control building, but also took stints during the night and at sunrise before bringing the car home.
The Hyundai Motorsport teams were not immune from the issues and attrition that affected many of their competition. The Team Americas car was slowed by multiple punctures as temperatures increased on Sunday, contributing to the final margin between the two Hyundai Motorsport entries. Both i30 Sedan N TCR crews had to contend with the frequently sweltering conditions at the wheel of the car, with the normal challenges of the infamously changeable Eifel weather replaced with the demands of keeping hydrated and maintaining concentration during each stint.
The team’s i30 Sedan N1 Cup Car and the driving quartet of Chinese driver Zhang Zhen Dong, South Koreans Gyumin Jim and Youngchan Kim, and American Jeff Ricca delivered an excellent performance on the car’s Nürburgring 24 Hours debut. The team, working well together were part of the fight for pole in the SP3T Class, holding the provisional top spot on multiple occasions during Thursday and Friday’s Qualifying sessions.
They were on course for a podium result until shortly before 9am on Sunday morning while running second in class and 50th overall. Exiting a Code 60, Ricca was hit by a GT3 car, spinning into the barriers at the Pflanzgarten area of the circuit. Ricca was uninjured, but the car was seriously damaged, bringing their race to a frustrating end.
Marc Basseng said: “I think this year was a pure demonstration of our speed with my teammates. Manuel Lauck, like every year, and our new teammate Christer Joens did an awesome job. I’m super stoked with everything – five TCR class victories now. Normally we have the hail, snow, rain, too much rain, cold. But this time it was incredibly hot – for everybody this was completely new. It was tough for the machinery, for the drivers, for the team, for everybody. I don’t think we’ve ever used so many water bottles before but the i30 Sedan N TCR was absolutely perfect. No stress, no problems – amazing that a sprint racing car can be that reliable on the hardest track in the world in the hardest conditions. A sign of perfect engineering from Hyundai Motorsport.”
Robert Wickens said: “I’m almost sad it’s done. It’s such a cool race, with such a great atmosphere and the i30 Sedan N TCR were running, frankly, so reliably that you almost wanted the race to keep going. It was just such a great team effort, with Hyundai Motorsport producing amazing endurance cars even though that’s not even what they’re designed to do. Both cars did 24 hours with zero reliability concern. I think we kind of stumbled into my stint pattern originally. I wasn’t supposed to get the sunrise but then with the red flag, it pushed everyone down. I didn’t start the race, but I started from the red flag, so I felt like I started the race again, and then got the sunrise stint, the pitch-black darkness at 4:00 AM stint, which was cool – seeing the fireworks and the all the campfire smoke and flares, it was just such a cool experience.”
Jeff Ricca said: “We had such an awesome car. It was so fun to drive. We were working so well together as drivers and with our engineer. All four drivers in our i30 Sedan N1 Cup Car were on the same pace and could bounce ideas back and forth – we were coaching each other, which is a rare find in this scenario but also learning from and teaching our Race Engineer in his first 24 Hour race. That was very special, and we had everything lined up so well. The incident was very clear. We were in a Code 60. I saw the GT3 behind me in my mirrors and planned to stay on the racing line, but he went for a gap. and before I was even able to react, I was already in the wall.”
