The Story

After two years of development, the VW Beetle RSR took to the track of the Nordschleife for the first time in April 2024 at the 24h Qualifiers. The two four-hour races were planned from the outset as test and set-up runs. Despite several interruption to work on the set-up and to replace a defective drive shaft, the white Beetle finished second on Saturday and first on Sunday, even outperforming the factory-fielded Subaru.

In addition to team boss Bernd Albrecht from Hirrlingen, two-time ADAC GT Masters champion Sebastian Asch (Ammerbuch) and Julian Reeh (Nieder-Olm) will also take the wheel in 2024. The team is completed by 2011 VLN champion and 48-time class winner in the endurance race Carsten Knechtges from Mayen. Sebastian Asch set a time of 9:39.34 minutes on the third lap of the 24-hour qualifier on Sunday and emphasised that there was still room for further improvement.

The team chief categorises the 24h premiere as follows:

“The entire team around Carsten Knechtges has sacrificed many hours of free time over the past few months to make our VW Beetle RSR truly awesome. But it is and remains a prototype that we designed and built ourselves. We are still at the beginning of a long journey. If it actually endures its first round-the-clock use twice, then the manufacturers will be knocking on our door the following Monday. We don’t have the manpower, the budget or the test runs to be fully competitive straight away. We know that. White Angel for Fly and Help is coming to the Green Hell to collect donations with over 50 volunteers. I hope that, with the help of visitors and our tombola, we will also raise a good deal of donations in 2024 to secure a self-determined future for children in developing countries through education and to put a smile on their faces. “