Eventful debut for Benjamin Mazatis at the Nürburgring 24 Hours | Benjamin Mazatis

2 June 2024

Eventful debut for Benjamin Mazatis at the 24h Nürburgring

Remarkably, during his debut at the ADAC Ravenol 24 Hours of Nürburgring Benjamin Mazatis experienced the shortest edition in the history of the long-distance classic. The 52nd edition was not only interrupted after around 7.5 hours due to fog, for almost 14 hours, but was also waved off after just under 23 hours. Mazatis, along with Walkenhorst Motorsport this historic race with 127 starters in 19th overall. They were the highest-placed Aston Martin team.

Thursday and Friday were entirely devoted to preparations for the individual time trial and the race. The team around the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 had already qualified for the Top Qualifying 2, where the front starting positions are decided. Mazatis, his teammates Chandler Hull, Patrick Assenheimer and Mike David Ortmann fully concentrate on themselves and the vehicle. The weather in the Eifel showed its typical side, providing all sorts of track conditions: from dry, to damp, to completely wet. Therefore, the perfect circumstances to prepare for possible race situations.

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Given that you can lose more than you can gain at the start of a 24-hour race, it was crucial for us to find the right balance. Benjamin's Aston Martin Vantage GT3 moved into the top ten within the first lap. However, after the very first lap, he then had to serve a planned drive-through penalty. A teammate of Mazatis' had ignored flag signals during qualifying, which resulted in this penalty. This meant a significant loss of time for the team.

After driving through the pit lane, the team around Aston Martin with starting number 35 had to go on the attack and fight their way back through the field from far behind. After an hour, the team was already back in 14th position.

Mazatis took over the driving duties of the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at around 8:30 PM, at which point it was in 17th position, precisely in the most challenging weather conditions.„It started to rain harder and the track conditions changed from corner to corner and from lap to lap“he reports. „Moreover, the circuit became increasingly slippery from lap to lap due to accidents involving oil spills.“A tyre poker ensued, with Walkenhorst Motorsport opting for intermediates while others were on slicks or wet tyres.„I was driving behind the later second-placed „Grello“ Porsche for a long time, which was on slicks.“, continues Mazatis. „In the wet passages, he was in my way, under dry conditions he had a clear advantage.“

Then darkness fell, and with it fog on the 25.3 km race circuit. While the Nordschleife was hardly affected, visibility on the Grand Prix circuit grew progressively worse. So, at 11:23 PM, the event many had anticipated occurred: The race was red-flagged, and the vehicles were ordered back to the pit lane. It was impossible to continue, as drivers were hurtling at 170 mph into a white wall of fog without any idea what was ahead of them. Race control quickly clarified that not much would happen before seven o'clock the following morning. „That was the necessary and correct decision by the race stewards.“, summarised Mazatis.

However, the fog still hung too densely over the track the next morning. Things didn't resume until 1:30 p.m.: not at full speed, however, but behind a leading vehicle through the still thick fog. The race organisers had announced that five laps would be completed behind the leading vehicle and a decision would then be made on how to proceed. But the fog remained, and so the race was called off early at 3:05 p.m. But the Eifel weather topped it all off: a few minutes after the race ended, the fog cleared and visibility was perfect.

For Benjamin Mazatis and the Walkenhorst Motorsport crew, the race ended in 19th place. In the GT3 standings without works drivers („SP9 Pro-Am“), the team even secured sixth place.

A result owed to adverse circumstances and the short driving time made the project seem unfinished.„Unfortunately, like three of the four drivers in our team, I only drove for one stint.“, sums up Mazatis. „It's a real shame, considering how much was invested beforehand. Months of preparation. The enormous development of the car by Aston Martin. After the race, you somehow feel like you're left empty-handed. But there are still more races on the Nordschleife ahead of me, which I'm very much looking forward to.“