Red Bull racing driver and 2009 Dakar Rally champion Giniel de Villiers of Stellenbosch added another significant achievement to his growing list of motor sport successes at the famed Nurburgring 24 Hour in Germany last weekend.
The 39-year-old from Stellenbosch, who competes in a BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo in the South African Rally Championship, co-drove a biogas-powered factory Volkswagen Scirocco GT24-CNG with fellow Dakar Rally winners Carlos Sainz of Spain (2011) and Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar (2010) and German DTM star Klaus Niedzwiedz to an emphatic win in the class for vehicles with alternative power trains.
They completed a total of 139 laps in the 24 hours to finish an impressive 26th overall in the 330 hp Scirocco against formidable and much more powerful competition. A second factory Scirocco GT24-CNG, driven by Belgian former DTM driver Vanina Ickx, German motoring journalists Peter Wyss (Automobil Revue) and Bernd Ostmann (auto motor und sport) and Niedzwiedz, finished a further seven laps behind in 46th place.
The race, which is open to touring and GT cars, was run at the monster 25,3-km circuit called “The Green Hell” that combines the old 20,8-km Nordschleife (northern loop) road course, which played host to the German Formula One Grand Prix from 1950 to 1976, with the modern-day 4,5-km grand prix circuit.
“This was my third time racing at the Nurburgring and it was definitely my most enjoyable,” said De Villiers. “Our objective was to win our class again and finish in the top 30 and I’m very pleased we were able to achieve both goals. It was also great to share this experience and this amazing car with my fellow Dakar winners and Volkswagen team-mates Carlos and Nasser. I was fortunate this time to be at the wheel at the finish and take the chequered flag, and then to make a slow lap of the circuit in front of hundreds of thousands of cheering spectators lining the road.
“It’s a very difficult race. There are over 200 cars on the circuit at the same time, you are continually passing or being passed, the weather changes suddenly from wet to dry and there are something like 90 corners, 40 left and 50 right. You have to be wide awake and concentrate really hard all the time.”
A total of 202 cars started the race and 135 made it to the finish. The race was won by a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Marc Lieb, Lucas Luhr, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, who completed 156 laps.