With an uncertain weather forecast, and a hugely oversubscribed entry list, the 2008 ADAC Nürburgring 24 hour race was always going to be an exciting event. Ultimately 230 cars would take the start of the world's most challenging circuit race, with Qualifying taking place in two sessions on Friday morning and evening. Peter uncharacteristically had contracted a nasty flu virus late in the previous week and it was a race against time to recover and build up sufficient strength to take on the infamous Nordschleife.
The Schumann Motorsport Hyundai V6 Coupe proved itself a winner last year, so expectations were high as the team of Peter and Adi Schumann, Christian Hohenadel and of course Peter Cate, took to the track for the first qualifying runs. "The aim of qualifying for us is to run a few safe laps as a systems check, and for me, to tune myself into the car and track since it's been a year that I drove it here. There is so much traffic, and with the high temperatures, there is no purpose in going for a time until the evening session."
Even so, it was clear the car was competitive, with only one other team (Volvo S60) ahead in the SP4 class by a few seconds over the 14 mile lap. In the evening however, Christian went out in perfect conditions and set a 9 minute 49 second lap which, although slightly slower than last year (mainly due to a high trip around the Karussel), was enough to secure class pole position by just half a second from a very well sorted BMW M3 and of course the Volvo S60. Peter spent his evening session familiarising himself with the car in full dark conditions, setting a respectable lap time and running just a single lap to complete the minimum number of qualifying laps required by each driver to avoid stressing the car unnecessarily.
Race day dawned bright but with increasing cloud cover, causing the teams to accompany their cars to the grid with wet tyres ready to fit if necessary. However, only a few drops fell which quickly dried on the hot track and the cars were able to take the start on full dry settings. As the lights turned green at three o'clock, the team watched anxiously as Peter Schumann negotiated the heavy traffic in the early laps. A quick spin dropped the Hyundai to second in class behind the BMW M3 but at this stage in the race there was no concern.
Around an hour and a quarter into the race however, a more serious incident occurred. Approaching Metzgesfeld, the Hyundai was caught up with a Porsche and a Renault Clio, the car being push off the track and into the crash barrier, badly damaging the steering and rear suspension. There was no option but to wait for the tow truck to bring the car back to the pit where the team worked incredibly hard to fix the damage and replace the broken parts. Two and a quarter hours later, the car left the pitlane with Christian at the wheel, having dropped to 226th position overall!
From Christian's lap times, it was clear the team had done a fantastic job, and the car was handling very well. In fact, as the evening became cooler, the Hyundai's best lap in that session was a 9:48, quicker than qualifying! Peter then took over at around 9pm with the car in 200th position, and after a first lap of heavy traffic, was able to find some space to get into a rhythm. His second lap was a 9:57 despite being baulked on some critical corners, and then, just as last year, it began to rain! "I actually like driving in the rain, but it would be nice to have a few consistent dry laps with this car!"
The rain moved across the circuit from the southwest but with some careful driving, it proved to be a temporary problem, and Pete continued on slick tyres without a stop, overtaking several more powerful cars struggling with the greasy conditions. It was fully dark by the time the rain eased off completely and Pete started to focus on moving up the field. Avoiding a long oil slick from Hohe Acht to Brünnchen, Peter continued to set consistently fast times and was nearing the end of his stint when, during a routine gear shift from 5th to 6th in Fuchsröhre, a problem occurred with the gearbox. "I simply could find no gears at all. Something had clearly let go but there were no nasty noises so I was hopeful of this being a minor glitch. Fortunately I was able to find 4th gear, but since it's a big uphill climb back to the end of the lap, it was quite a challenge to keep the car from stalling."
On returning to the pits (now in 187th position), the team sprang into action, finding indeed that it was simply a small bolt in the gear selector mechanism that was at fault. This was identified and fixed within minutes and Adi Schumann jumped in for the next stint whilst Pete left for some well earned hours of sleep. His next stint was planned for 5am, but it was not to be...
"Around midnight, I had one of those telephone calls, when you know something is wrong before you even answer. It was Michael, the chief engineer, telling me that Adi had been involved in a crash and whilst he was ok, the car was not repairable." It turned out the Hyundai had been spun around by a wayward Seat at Klostertal, and the resulting contact with the barrier caused serious rear suspension damage that could not be fixed at the track. With regret, the Schumann team had to withdraw from the race, leaving Peter to think about what might have been.
The race was eventually won by the #1 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, driven by Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Marcel Tiemann. This car, despite suffering a technical problem on the warm up lap, completed 148 laps overall. The SP4 class winner was the Mäder Honda S2000, whilst the Schumann Hyundai fastest lap was a clear 6 seconds ahead of the other SP4 class cars, showing the great potential of this car and team.
"Racing is a sport which for sure has fewer winners than losers, and it's the losing which makes the winning more enjoyable, as we saw last year" Pete commented. "I'm very grateful to Schumann Motorsport for another chance to drive this Hyundai Coupe, and I look forward to returning to our winning ways together in the future."
