A large contingent from the ADAC GT Masters will contest the ADAC TOTAL 24-hour race once again this year: 26 drivers and five teams are aiming to be up there at the front at the Green Hell this weekend. The German GT championship drivers will be spearheaded by last year’s 24-hour race winner Nick Yelloly. The Brit and his BMW factory driver colleague Jesse Krohn, currently both in second place overall in the ADAC GT Masters, will both compete in the BMW M6 GT3 – but for different teams. Krohn is remaining faithful to Schubert Motorsport in the 24-hour race. Team principal André Schubert: “We’ve been eagerly awaiting our return to the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring for quite a few months now and are delighted that the time has finally come. It was a real feat getting ready for the race and we feel perfectly prepared. We have good reason to be optimistic with our well-oiled team and the strong driver pairing that we have put in place in collaboration with BMW Motorsport.” The team from Oschersleben is also fielding a BMW M2 CS Racing, which will have team founder Thorsten Schubert as one of the drivers at the wheel. Audi Sport customer racing will also be relying on racing teams from the ADAC GT Masters. The three factory-supported R8 LMS will be managed by Car Collection Motorsport, Land-Motorsport and Phoenix Racing. The drivers include the factory drivers Christopher Haase, Patric Niederhauser, Markus Winkelhock (all Car Collection), Dries Vanthoor (Phoenix) and Christopher Mies (Land), who, except for Niederhauser, have all won the 24-hour race at least once. Dennis Marschall and Kim-Luis Schramm will be competing in the privateer Audi of Phoenix. The team from Meuspath will also be managing a Ferrari 488 GT3, whose driver squad includes ADAC GT Masters record winner Daniel Keilwitz. His team-mate in the German GT championship, Sebastian Asch, will be racing in a Dodge Viper CC GT3 in the Eifel region. Lamborghini factory driver Mirko Bortolotti was impressive on the opening day in the Eifel, setting the best time of the day. “It feels good to know that we can be competitive. But we still have a lot of work to do. But it’s great to start the race weekend with a result like this,” said the Italian, who is sharing a Huracán GT3 Evo with Franck Perera. Tim Zimmermann is another GRT Grasser Racing Team driver in the Lamborghini squad at the “Green Hell”. Naturally, the potential winners of the Eifel classic include Mercedes-AMG and Porsche. The brand with the star is relying on Maro Engel, who is at the wheel of two GT3 Evo, and his ADAC GT Masters partner Luca Stolz, opening race winner Raffaele Marciello and Jules Gounon, the 2017 champion. “The performance levels of the starting field will be very high once again, which is why we will be giving it our all right up until the start of the race to make sure that we can be driving for the overall win down to the wire,” said Engel, the 2016 race winner. “We are all really looking forward to the event, but – like last year unfortunately – we will also miss the festival atmosphere at the track.” It comes as no surprise that ADAC GT Masters league leader and Porsche factory driver Mathieu Jaminet will be contesting the 24-hour race in a 911 GT3 R. Also lining up in the 911: Klaus Bachler, Thomas Preining, Sven Müller and Marco Holzer. Rutronik Racing, contesting the German GT championship with two Audis, are making their 24-hour debut with a Porsche. “The 24-hour race at the Nürburgring is always hardcore – that’s what I love,” said factory driver Thomas Preining. “We prepared well in the NLS races and in the subsequent qualifying race, and are very confident going into the race weekend. I’m expecting a very fierce battle in the top class SP9.” In addition to the 23 drivers not wanting to miss out on the motorsport highlight in GT3/SP9 cars, three more drivers from the ADAC GT Masters will be racing at the weekend: Constantin Schöll (KTM X-Bow GTX), Luca-Sandro Trefz (Porsche Cayman GT4) and Hendrik Still (Hyundai i30 N TCR). With countless drivers and teams, the ADAC GT4 Germany and ADAC TCR Germany will also be represented in the 24-hour race.