Since racing began at the Nürburgring in 1927, plenty have tried to conquer the Green Hell, and plenty have failed. But not this lot. From those heady days of endurance-style Formula 1 grands prix, to sports car, GT and touring car races, Paul Fearnley assesses the greatest drivers ever to tackle the Nordschleife, and sticks his neck out to rank them. Only one can be the true King of the ’Ring
20 Rolf Stommelen
Bespectacled and spectacular, a precocious talent unfulfilled in F1
Signed by Porsche when just 22 in 1966, he finished second consecutively at the Nürburgring 1000Kms from 1968, in works 907 and 908/2, and also for Alfa Romeo at the Oil Crisis-hit 750Kms of 1974. He showed well for the Italians – fastest lap in 1972 amid superior Ferraris – but the cars were unreliable. The win, when finally it came in a Porsche 935 in 1977 involved another fastest lap. There was an Interserie success in a Porsche 908/3 Turbo, plus victories in Ford and BMW saloons, including the 1972 ETCC round in a 2800CS. Eighth on his 1969 F1 debut, he scored the first point for carbon-fibre brakes in ’76. There was to be another 1000Kms runner-up spot, before his fatal accident at Riverside in 1983.
19 Timo Bernhard/ Marcel Tiemann
Endurance royalty, predictably calm, calculating and quick amid the chaos
This formidable pair combined – in conjunction with Messrs Dumas and Lieb (thrice), and Luhr and Rockenfeller (once) – to win the 24 Hours four times in a row from 2006 in Manthey GT3 Porsches. Both have a record five wins – as does Pedro Lamy – to their names: Tiemann’s first was scored in an Opel Astra V8 in 2003, and Bernhard’s most recent was achieved the season after Tiemann’s career-ending Imola crash of 2010. Bernhard’s Bellof-busting 5min 20sec lap of 2018 in a derestricted Porsche 919 Evo was mind-blowing; but Tiemann, with 19, has almost double his number of wins in the VLN endurance series at the track. Fate separated them. We cannot.
18 Jochen Mass
German strongman who so easily could have lifted the biggest trophy
The only driver shunning wets – due to a mix of local and insider knowledge – for the start of the 1976 GP, his McLaren was 30sec ahead after two laps. His first thought upon seeing red flags was that his advantage had been deemed too great; they were, of course, flying because of Niki Lauda’s fireball. The race eventually reset, with slicks universal, he would have to settl
