Pippa Mann Returns to Nurburgring in 2024 with Girls Only Team

For the fourth consecutive year, Pippa Mann will compete with the Girls Only WS Racing program in the Giti Tire BMW M4 GT4. She’ll return to Germany for the 52nd running of the ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race at the Nurburgring from June 1-2, 2024.

Originally opened in 1927, and nicknamed “The Green Hell,” the 150-turn Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit winds its way through the forests and hills in the Eifel region of Germany.   The first 24-hour race was held at “The Ring” in 1970, and it has since become known as one of the most challenging 24-hour races of the season.

Following a podium finish there in 2022, Mann and her teammates set the fast time in their SP8-T class early on in 2023. However, misfortune in the overnight hours led to the team losing a several-lap lead and being taken out of contention for the win. After hours of work, the car did return to finish the race, with the British racer setting a new fastest lap for the team and the class during the final stint to the checkered flag.

Leading up to the main event for the 2024 season, on April 6, Mann will compete at one of three NLS races that comprise the full-season Championship for Girls Only and the WS Racing teams. Mann will again compete alongside Beitske Visser, though their other teammates for NL2, and the 24 hour race have yet to be announced.

Mann is a seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor, and a race winning coach and co-driver with clients in various sports car series across the US. When competing in Germany, Mann’s signature pink helmet will once again feature the blue “S” representing Shift Up Now, an organization Mann took over in 2020. As the CEO, she and her team are focused on the mission of providing more opportunity and funding for talented female racers.

The Girls Only team, founded and led by Nicole Willems within WS Racing, is also on a mission to prove that, with equal opportunity, men and women can perform and compete as equals at the highest levels of motorsport.

“I’m thrilled to be returning to the Girls Only team by WS Racing for my fourth 24 Hour race at the Ring this June,” said Mann. “This event has quickly become the highlight of my racing season each year, and I can’t thank Nicole Willems, the WS team, Giti Tire, and all their sponsors enough for inviting me back to be part of the program for another year.

“Last year, we had an amazing race car. Our Giti Tires BMW M4 GT4 was on rails, but lady luck was not on our side. This year, our goal is to show up just as fast, and see if we can bring home the win."

Practice and qualifying for the 24-hour race begin on Thursday, June 29, 2024.

 

 

 

 

Victory for Mann, Teammates, "Girls Only" Team at the Nurburgring

Shift Up Now Athlete Pippa Mann, along with teammates Celia Martin and Carrie Schreiner, won in the SP8T GT4 class - and finished 4th overall out of the 14 GT4 cars entered - on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at the Nurburgring.

The trio, along with their all-female team of mechanics, engineers and crew, brought home the first win of the season in the Giti Tires “Girls Only” BMW M4 GT4. 

The race was the second round of the German NLS series, which takes place on the Nurburgring Nordschleife race track, on a slightly shorter loop than the ADAC Total 24 Hour race. The four-hour endurance race on the 24.4km course featured 132 cars entered across various classes. These included GT3 cars, Porsche Cup cars, touring cars and 14 GT4 cars split across the two GT4 classes that run at the Nurburgring for the NLS events, and the ADAC Total 24 Hour race.

Practice for the event on Friday featured the region's notorious “Eifel Weather,” a mix of fog and rain that gives the Nordschleife it’s nickname, “The Green Hell.”

During those conditions on Friday, Mann, Martin and Schreiner focused on turning as many laps as possible and getting comfortable in the team's new BMW M4 GT4 on the wet racetrack. 

Mann was second in the car, turning three laps on the Giti Tires wet-weather tire. She then returned for another run later in the session as the track started to dry. Mann made it through two third of a lap on the Nordschleife before heavy rain aborted the run.

Qualifying on Saturday morning featured similar conditions as all three drivers took to the track. Martin was the last driver in the car, setting the fast time and qualifying the team in the middle of the GT4 field.

As the noon race start time drew near, the forecasted heavy rain never came and the track continued to dry. Martin was the starting driver, and made the brave, but ultimately correct decision to start the race on “cut slick tires” instead of wet-weather tires. As the green flag dropped, she took the car to P1 in the class. During the first stint of the race, she was P2 overall of the GT4 cars.

Outside of the racing line, the racetrack was greasy and slippery. Several accidents caused various areas of the race track to be under speed-limited conditions. In these areas, drivers were not to exceed specific kph and were not allowed to overtake another vehicle. A mistake in one of these zones cost the team some time when they were forced to serve a 45-second penalty.

Mann was the final driver in the Giti Tires BMW M4 GT4, running the 90 minutes to the end of the race. The entire field stayed on slick tires throughout, despite several small showers on parts of the race track, and occasional sleet. Mann set the second fastest lap of the race for the team, and brought the car home with the first win of the season.

“I’m so thankful to WS Racing and Giti Tire for allowing me to come over for this race as a warm-up for the 24 Hour Race this May,” said Mann. “I also want to thank Bell Techlogix for their support of Shift Up Now, which helps pay for my travel for these events.

“The mixed conditions this weekend threw a lot at me, but I’m so much better prepared for the 24 Hour Race now, having gotten to compete this weekend in NLS2. The new BMW M4 GT4 is by far my favorite GT4 car I’ve ever driven, and I’m pretty pleased with getting below the nine-minute mark on this layout in the race today. I can’t wait to come back and do this again in May.”

Qualifying for this year’s ADAC Total 24 Hour Race will take place on May 18-19, 2023, followed by the race on the 25.3km track layout on May 20-21, 2023.

Pippa Mann returns to Nurburgring in 2023 with WS Racing

For the third consecutive year, Pippa Mann will compete in the Girls Only program with WS Racing on the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit on May 20-21, 2023.

In 2022, the team completed a successful ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race, culminating in a podium finish. As a result, WS Racing announced an unchanged lineup for the 2023 race on the infamous, 20.8k German track.

Mann is a seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor, and a race winning coach and co- driver with clients in various sports car series across America. In 2023, she will be returning to both the International GT Championship, and to the FARA Racing USA Championship.

WS Racing, founded and led by Nicole Willems, is on also a mission to prove that with equal opportunity, men and women can perform and compete as equals at the highest levels of motorsport.

This will mark the second year that Mann teams up with Carrie Schreiner, Celia Martin and Fabienne Wohlwend. The all-female Girls Only driving lineup will be competing with a brand new BMW M4 GT4, with continued sponsorship from Giti Tire.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to return to the Ring again for the third year running,” said Mann. “I can’t wait to see my team-mates again, and I’m so excited to get behind the wheel of the brand new BMW M4 GT4!”

“I want to thank the team, and all of their partners for welcoming me back for another year. And Bell Techlogix for their support of Shift Up Now, which is once again covering my travel costs to allow me to travel to Germany to compete, and be part of this amazing program.”

"We are very happy that Pippa completes our line up again this season and supports us with her experience and speed," said Nicole Willems. "Our goal is to continue the success of the past years. Pippa fits perfectly to our team and our visions."

Originally opened in 1927, and nicknamed “The Green Hell,” the 70-turn Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit winds its way through the forests and hills in the Eifel region of Germany.

Mann will be joining the WS Racing / Girls Only squad for one of the three warm-up races. She’ll then return to Germany for the 51st edition of the ADAC Total Energies 24 Hour race in May. Practice and qualifying begins on Thursday May 18, 2023.

Podium Finish for Mann at Sebring 24 Hour Race

Seven-time Indianapolis 500 competitor Pippa Mann was part of the four-driver lineup for ProSport Competition, and helped earn a podium finish for the team in their first-ever, World Racing League 24 Hour race held at Sebring International Raceway on October 31, 2021.

Mann normally competes in the Championship with customers in her own BMW M2 with TLM Racing. When the team decided not to enter their cars in what would prove to be a grueling test of endurance for both drivers and cars, the British driver became available to join ProSport Competition.

With several of her 2019 Indianapolis 500 crew involved in leading the ProSport Competition entry, Mann transferred into a car she normally races against. She joined the driver line-up of Dwayne Moses, Zach Arnold and Jim Cox for the historic event.

Mann turned her first laps in the No. 143 RP Aston Martin Vantage GT4 during Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions. Her lap time from the first session placed the team eighth on the starting grid for the following day’s race.

With Moses at the wheel for the start on Saturday, and Cox driving second, the team picked up places in the opening stints. The team ran as high as third place before a flash fire from a fuel overfill forced Mann to park at a marshal station. Once she ensured the flames were out, a trip back to the garage area confirmed there was no permanent damage to the car. Now several laps down, the team returned to track with a goal of making up ground.

All of the teammates bested their practice and qualifying times during the race, working together to climb the order overall and taking back laps from the leading cars.

At 2:00 a.m., Mann was in the car for a double stint and took the final two laps back from the second-place entry by passing for position before the end of her stint. Arnold then took the wheel and continued the charge, putting two laps of safety between the Aston Martin GT4 and the third place competitor during his double stint.

As the sun rose on Sunday morning, the team was holding down second place with a two-lap lead. Mechanical issues from the brutal pounding of an endurance race at Sebring were starting to take their toll on the car. The last four hours of the race, from 8:00 a.m. to noon, were tense as the team took turns in single stints, nursing their ailing race car home without giving up the podium.

As the checked flag flew on the first-ever 24 Hour race at Sebring, and after 2000 racing miles at one of the bumpiest race tracks in America, ProSport Competition secured second place both in the GT0 class, and overall, in its first-ever World Racing League podium finish.

“It was so much fun to be invited to join this team for the first ever Sebring 24,” said Mann. “Having the opportunity to race such a great car, with team-mates who were so incredibly fast in every single stint of the race, and then coming away with second place overall. It was so great to be here with Race for RP and ProSport Competition for this race.”

Mann resumes her coaching and co-driving duties with client Jody Miller and his Porsche Cup Car for TLM Racing on November 5-7, 2021 at Circuit of the Americas for the penultimate IGT Championship event of the season.