The shortest-ever Nürburgring 24 Hours: here’s what happened at this year’s event

What should’ve been a thrilling 24-hour battle sadly ran its course after just seven hours and 22 minutes, with thick fog descending upon the Nordschleife to make the 52nd edition of the N24 the shortest yet.

Still, the 2024 event produced plenty of hard racing, a searing atmosphere of over 300,000 spectators and one elated team in Scherer Sport who took overall victory in their Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. 

That makes it a total of seven wins for Scherer at the ‘Ring 24 - drawing them level with Manthey on the all-time victory count. Manthey’s Porsche 911 GT3 R ultimately missed out by just 0.6 seconds, with the podium rounded off by BMW M Team RMG and their M4 GT3. 

The race itself had plenty of tight, tempered racing to keep the crowd on their feet, with the unpredictable weather throwing regular curveballs into the mix and leading to some pretty spectacular accidents. It also meant around 1/5th of the entrants failed even to finish.

One of those cars included the M4 GT3 driven by Rowe Racing, which was involved in a massive multi-car car crash on the 21st lap as the team was applying pressure for the lead. 

Another notable moment involved MSC Sinzig's Audi RS3 LMS. On the 24th lap, an engine fault led to an oil leak out through the exhaust, leaving a small trail of fire behind it. Thankfully, the driver emerged unscathed as on-track marshalls reacted swiftly to deal with the situation.

Soon after this was when the fog started to blanket part of the Nordschleife. By 11:20 pm, it had spread across the entirety of the Green Hell, and officials had no choice but to halt the race. It stayed that way for the next 14 hours, after which Scherer were officially crowned winners of the shortest-ever N24.