Nissan battles rivals and the weather in Nurburgring 24 Hour

Nurburgring, Germany – Torrential rain, fog and hail may have technically shortened the Nurburgring 24 Hour by 17 per cent, but the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN squad pulled a 100 per cent effort at the race renowned as the toughest in the world.

Not only did more than 150 cars line up on the grid for the event which combines the Nurburgring Grand Prix circuit with the famous Nordschleife, up to six cars are crammed into each pit box.

Nissan's star driver line-up of Michael Krumm, Alex Buncombe, Kazuki Hoshino and Lucas Ordóñez then had to battle horrendous weather including hail which caused the race to be red flagged for four hours.

We are very proud to have finished 11th and I had a really good experience here.

Kazuki Hoshino

The NISMO quartet pulled off a faultless run during the race but just missed out on its top ten target with an 11th place finish.

"Everybody did a great job, the drivers made no mistakes, we had no penalties and the car did not fail at any point at any time," Krumm said.

"Our target was a top ten - we didn't quite make it but our competition was just a little too strong for us this weekend. We now just have to keep developing and improving the car."

Not only was the race staged in challenging conditions, the Top 30 qualifying on Friday was also conducted in pouring rain with Alex Buncombe at the wheel.

The Nissan squad contesting this year's race was the same combination which did battle here last year with Nurburgring expert Krumm joined by Blancpain Endurance Champion Buncombe, multiple Super GT GT300 champion Hoshino and inaugural GT Academy winner Ordóñez.

"It is a super difficult race and very tough. We are very proud to have finished 11th and I had a really good experience here. I can't wait to come back here and fight again," Hoshino said.

Nissan