GirlsOnly fights back to finish fourth in grueling Nürburgring 24H
- MIKA BÖCKER
- Jun 25
- 6 min read
In unusually hot conditions at the Nürburgring, all teams with female participation in the Alternative Technologies (AT3) class faced challenging races. Despite an overnight setback while in podium contention, the all-female GirlsOnly team managed to recover and finish fourth in class.
In unusually hot conditions at the Nürburgring, all teams with female participation in the Alternative Technologies (AT3) class faced challenging races. Despite an overnight setback while in podium contention, the all-female GirlsOnly team managed to recover and finish fourth in class.
The team, driving the #146 Giti Tire BMW M4 GT4, featured GT3 specialist Carrie Schreiner, Fabienne Wohlwend, and two first-time participants in the iconic race, Janina Schall and Patricija Stalidzane, both of whom had shown strong pace in previous NLS rounds.
They were joined in the AT3 class by Jasmin Preisig in the #76 Max Kruse Racing VW Golf GTI Clubsport, and by the Kreutzpointner twins, Alesia and Jacqueline, returning in the #633 Four Motors Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.
After previous years of rain-soaked races, the weather forecast for this year’s 24 Hours of Nürburgring promised unusually warm and sunny conditions—a prediction confirmed during Thursday's first qualifying session. Drivers would now be facing the heat, but everyone remained optimistic that a full race would finally be possible.
However, it wasn't the heat that caused the first disruption of the weekend. A Porsche in the SP7 class caught fire just seven minutes into qualifying due to a technical failure, prompting an early red flag. The first drivers out for the women’s teams were Patricija Stalidzane in the GirlsOnly #146, Hrubesch in the #633 Porsche, and Fabian Vettel (brother of former Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel) in the #76 Golf.
Schreiner (GirlsOnly) and Gebhardt (#76) took over for the second qualifying run. Both aimed to improve on their teammates’ times of 9:11.224 and 9:06.611 respectively, but encountered tricky conditions. It wasn’t until the second qualifying session at night that significant improvements were made across the board, largely determining the final grid positions.
The #76 Golf of Preisig and teammates would start from 52nd overall, the #146 BMW from 62nd, and the #633 Porsche from 75th.
Saturday remained warm and sunny, with drivers already sweating before the race began. The formation lap was led through the crowded track by Hochwind in the #76 VW Golf, Carrie Schreiner in the #146 BMW, and Hrubesch in the #633 Porsche. The start went smoothly across all groups, though early position changes were inevitable.
Hochwind completed the first lap in 50th overall and third in class, closely followed by Schreiner, who started from a slightly different position. Hrubesch held 72nd overall, sixth in class. Schreiner and Hochwind steadily moved up the overall rankings, although class positions remained unchanged in the early stages.
Schreiner was the first AT3 driver to pit, and during the driver change to Wohlwend, the GirlsOnly team lost time due to the special refueling regulations for AT classes, dropping to 70th overall but only one position in class. Car #633 pitted a lap later and faced similar delays during the switch to Wlömer. Both Wlömer and Wohlwend now aimed to regain ground.
Shortly thereafter, an unusual situation unfolded: a complete power outage struck the pit lane. All monitors, fueling systems, and other pit equipment shut down. Only the building housing the media center and race control retained electricity. For once, the interruption wasn’t caused by severe weather, but by a short circuit in the overheated air conditioning system.
The delay lasted over an hour while race control worked to restore the running order from two laps prior. The #146 and #633 cars benefitted, gaining positions in AT3.
Racing resumed shortly after 8 p.m. Without parc fermé restrictions during the interruption, the restart reshuffled the field. Vettel restarted in the #76 from 43rd overall and third in class; Wohlwend from 54th and fifth in class; Wlömer close behind in 57th. Each gained positions early in the new stint.
The race settled into its rhythm with frequent Code 60 periods due to accidents. Around an hour after the restart, a major crash involving the Schnitzelalm GT4 in the Adenauer Forst triggered an extended caution, followed by more incidents in Schwedenkreuz and elsewhere, complicating overtaking opportunities.
After six hours of racing, the #76 Golf with Gebhardt was second in class, with GirlsOnly just two seconds behind after an excellent stint by Wohlwend.
Janina Schall, in her 24h debut, quickly overtook the Golf and began chasing the class-leading #19 Golf. However, a different pit strategy had given the leader several minutes’ advantage.
The pursuit was further delayed by more incidents, including a GT3 crash at Hohe Acht and a head-on collision in the Yokohama-S, with extended cleanup. Two hours later, class positions remained static, although driver rotations and overall rankings had changed. Patricija Stalidzane now drove for GirlsOnly in 42nd overall. Preisig had just taken over the #76, now running 47th, while Kreutzpointner was in 54th with the #633.
As night fell with 15 hours and 50 minutes to go, disaster struck the women of the AT3 class. Jasmin Preisig retired the #76 Golf at Galgenkopf after a technical issue caused by earlier contact.
Simultaneously, the GirlsOnly BMW pitted unexpectedly with significant front-end damage. The team later revealed that Stalidzane had been following a GT3 car closely during a yellow phase in Metzgesfeld. The pending Code 60 had not yet appeared on her in-car display, and signs were not visible behind the larger GT3. When the GT3 braked suddenly, she had no warning and made contact.
"Of course, I wanted to know if she [Patricija Stalidzane] was okay", Carrie Schreiner described the moment when the team received the news of the accident.
The resulting radiator and front-end damage took until 3:00 a.m. to repair. Meanwhile, the #633 Porsche had moved into 51st overall and fourth in class, and eventually reached the class podium, four laps behind the leader.
While Preisig’s Golf was beyond repair, the GirlsOnly BMW rejoined the race at full pace during the night. By morning, however, they were still outside the top 100 and 12 laps behind their next AT3 rival. Recovery was difficult due to constant yellow flags and the pace of other class competitors.
The #633 Porsche continued to climb the order until it, too, suffered a setback: a rear-end fire forced the car’s retirement. The Kreutzpointner sisters called the retirement "very tough" on Instagram but praised the team’s efforts.
GirlsOnly, meanwhile, endured another long pit stop early in the morning, losing two more laps. Even with the #633 out of the race, the BMW was still classified behind it. Now in 83rd overall and fifth in class, with Fabienne Wohlwend back behind the wheel, they were the only female team still running in AT3.
With six hours to go, Schreiner had taken over and sat 94th overall, still nine laps behind the now-retired #633. The car’s air conditioning had also failed, and cockpit temperatures continued to rise. "It was extremely hot in the car. I know that most cars don’t have strong A/C anyway, but still it was really hard to drive ilike that," Schreiner said.
Wearing full fireproof gear, the cockpit became a sauna, limiting drivers to single stints. Still, they kept pushing as the battle for position was far from over. After about 90 sweltering minutes, the GirlsOnly team finally inherited fifth from the #633 and slowly climbed the overall standings as more cars retired and some of those ahead were from slower classes.
Later, major crashes at Stefan Bellof S and the Miss-Hit-Miss section caused further Code 60s, hindering GirlsOnly’s progress. At that point, it didn’t seem to affect class position—until the #888 BMW GT4 EVO, the car ahead in class, crashed heavily. Based on the images, it was uncertain whether repairs could be completed in time.
GirlsOnly was over 13 laps behind the #888—a gap requiring about 110 minutes of green-flag racing. With the #888 also undergoing emergency repairs, GirlsOnly had to push flat out to overtake them before the finish.
Carrie Schreiner finally closed the gap just before the end of the race. On her penultimate lap, she overtook the #888—just in time. Moments later, the repaired #888 had exited the pit lane.
Schreiner brought the car home safely and the team finished 69th overall and fourth in class—an impressive result considering the setbacks they faced. Still, their feelings were mixed.
"I was very happy to finish, but of course we were also disappointed because we knew more was possible," Schreiner reflected.
"Of course we were disappointed by the unplanned repairs at midnight. But the girls did a fantastic job getting the car back on track as quickly as possible. We kept pushing and didn’t give up, and that’s what we should be proud of as a team, despite missing out on the podium," Janina Schall added.
It was Schall’s first Nürburgring 24, and she came away with unforgettable memories. "I’ve been to the 24-hour race many times as a spectator, but being able to experience it as a driver was a very special experience. Driving first in the heat and later through the darkness is quite demanding. That’s exactly what makes this race so exciting. The atmosphere with the numerous fans on the track and in the paddock was truly impressive,“ she told us. Carrie Schreiner agreed: "The event is simply something very special. It’s so exhausting with everything that goes with it, but I love it.“
There won’t be much rest for the AT3 class women at the Nürburgring. The NLS Light season resumes on July 5, 2025—this time without GT3 cars. And in the meantime, many drivers, especially Schreiner as an Audi ambassador, will have full schedules.
