First in the Alternative Fuel Class at Nurburgring - the Scirocco GT24 CNG
Fastest Lap Time for Front Wheel Drive Cars
1st, 2nd, 3rd in Alt-Fuel Class
Three 330 hp turbo engine VW Scirocco GT24-CNGs contested this year’s Nürburgring event, powered by natural gas. All three finished without mechanical incident. In the alternative fuel class Car 117 driven by Vanina Ickx (Belgium), factory driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar), Dieter Depping (Germany) and Klaus Niedzwiedz (Germany) finished first, claiming the FIA Alternative Energy Cup, while cars 118 and 116 finished second and third respectively. Although there were only four cars in this class the three cars performed creditably in the total field of 199 entrants, finishing 16th, 51st and 72nd. Car 118 completed the fastest race lap for a front-wheel drive car with a time of 9m 04.710s, but lost time when caught up in an other-vehicle accident, without which a top 20 place would likely also have been achieved.
Volkswagen has fielded the Scirocco in the 24-hour marathon since 2008 – without a single mechanically related retirement. For the first time in 2010 in the race nicknamed the “green hell” the Wolfsburg-based automobile brand used combustion engines powered by Bio Natural Gas, which allow up to an 80 per cent overall reduction of CO2 emissions. Bio Natural Gas is extracted from biomass as well as regenerative raw materials and is climate neutral in its manufacture.
Nasser Al-Attiyah said after the race, “The 24-hour race was a completely new challenge for me and I’m happy to have been a part of this fantastic team. The result is also perfect, although with a little more luck we could have been even better. However, this is also a part of this fantastic race and I hope to be able to return in 2011 with Volkswagen.”
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