The Subaru WRX No. 114 managed to bring home an excellent second place in its category in the historic German race at the Nurburgring.
Saturday began with the arrival of the Subaru management, ready to support the Subaru International Team: President Hiraoka, General Manager Tatsumi, and Manager Sawada were all present at the circuit considering the importance of the event. The Japanese car started from the front row of Group 3 ready to fight for victory in its class and try to climb the classification.
By 15.30 the cars were all on the grid, and at 15.40 the formation lap began. The opening driver was Takuto Iguchi, who started the long 24H WRX. The laps following the start took place with a regular calm without any major twists and turns. On lap No. 8 Iguchi's Subaru stopped, after recovering from 85th position to 46th, for refuelling and Carlo Van Dam took the Japanese driver's place to start his first stint of the race, around 17.30. After an hour the Dutchman returned to the pits and was replaced by Tim Schrick, the third driver of the crew.
After three hours of racing, the WRX was first in class and 50th overall, maintaining a steady and solid pace. Schrick returned at 7.40pm as planned to hand over the wheel to Yamauchi. During the German's stint the radio had experienced some problems interrupting the conversations between pit and driver, nothing serious as in the end the problem seemed to depend on a cable making contact. The same annoyance befell the Japanese driver, who had some trouble with radio communication. Yamauchi brought the Subaru up to 44th position before returning at 9pm and handing the car over to Iguchi.
After only two laps, the WRX began to experience electrical problems and had to return to the pits as a matter of urgency. The mechanics opened the engine bonnet and found damage to the alternator. Stopped for about 15 minutes, the STI car then resumed its run with Iguchi completing another nine laps before stopping.
In the evening the race stabilised with Van Dam recovering a few positions and moving up to 58th overall. The Dutchman returned shortly after midnight and gave up the seat to Schrick, who completed a double stint and returned to the pits at 2.00am. The steering wheel then returned to the hands of Yamauchi who, however, completed one lap and had to stop again due to alternator problems, replaced a few hours earlier. Once restarted, the drivers took turns driving the WRX and the night passed without further difficulties.
On Sunday morning, however, a mishap forced Van Dam to stop earlier than necessary. At first it was thought to be a puncture caused by contact with a wall, but in the pits the team realised that the engine had also suffered damage in the exhaust area and they started to replace it. Suspension arms, differentials, silencers, steering rack and tie rods were also changed and at 11am the WRX was finally able to return to racing. Van Dam got back behind the wheel and completed a stint of about an hour until Schrick's turn. However, with about four minutes to go, the German driver suffered a puncture for which he returned to the pits for a tyre change. Unfortunately the track after 20 hours of racing and full of debris can be a danger and create these kinds of problems.
At 2pm with two hours of racing remaining the Subaru had completed 100 laps and was in 88th position, second in its class. Over the last two hours the drivers took turns at the wheel for their final stints and Van Dam took on the arduous task of bringing the WRX to the final finish. The chequered flag was waved at 16.07, bringing the race to an end. STI finished the ADAC 24H Total Energy at the Nurburgring in second place in the SPT4 category and 80th overall.
Next up for the Subaru WRX and STI is the third round of the Japanese Super GT in Suzuka on 3 and 4 June.