Shift Up Now Athlete Pippa Mann and teammates Martin Rich, Josh Hislop, and Karim Sekkat brought home a 12th-place finish for Breakell Racing in the the 54th ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring in Germany on May 14-17, 2026.
This year’s event marked Mann’s sixth time competing at “The Ring” for the 24 hour race, and her second outing with Breakell Racing, a leading British racing team that competes in GT championships across the UK and Europe. The British driver is supported by Bell Techlogix, Soft Kill, Cotton Sox, Koicar Racing and Drive Toward a Cure.
Nicknamed “The Green Hell” by Jackie Stewart, the 15.5-mile Nordschleife track features more than 150 turns. It’s infamous for being narrow, with high speeds, and dangerous, unpredictable Eifel weather, which lived up to its reputation for the 2026 competition.
Piloting the No. 967 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 on Michelin tires, in a competitive Cup 3 class of 20 cars, Mann and teammates began the weekend on Thursday afternoon with the first qualifications/practice session in cold but clear weather. Qualifying rules stipulated that the fastest time from any session by any driver set the grid, and each driver was required to complete a minimum of two laps before the race. Mann was the third driver in the two-hour session and despite several long code 60 sections on the rae track, completed her two laps.
Later that evening, the second qualifying/practice began at 8:00pm on a nearly-dry track. Sekkat—the team’s newest driver to the Nordschleife—was behind the wheel first. When Hislop, the next driver, took over, heavy rain made the track incredibly treacherous, and the team opted to pause running for the remainder of the day.
The third and final session took place on Friday. Hislop, a Porsche talent pool driver, was tasked with bedding the brakes, and trying to find a lap free of code 60s and slow zones to improve the team’s starting position. Unfortunately, as soon as the brakes were bedded, a long code 60 zone on the Nordscliefe, followed by heavy rain, thwarted the team’s plan.
When it came time to race, at least 10 of the 161 entries—including one in the Cup 3 class—were unable to start due to practice and qualifying incidents. The race start featured three groups, and the No. 967 was in the second group with the GT4 cars, with Rich behind the wheel.
The intermittent rain held off for the start, giving Rich a dry track. He had a strong start and started advancing forward in the overall order, and the Cup 3 field. Each driver and stint continued his progress until the team was running eighth in class.
When Mann took the wheel, the skies opened up and the team elected to run wet tires on the car. Her out lap quickly indicated that might not have been the best choice, however with the radr showing heavy rain imminent the team opted to keep the tires on the car for another lap. This back and forth surrounding tires continued for the entirity of Mann's stint, which ended up being run entirely on wet tires on a dry race track.
Her next team mate in the car did change onto slick tires, and as he lect the pit box, the predicted rain finally arrived. Rich elected to stay on the slick tires, which most of the field was also running, and was setting a good pace for the conditions.
However at the end of his stint, he was tagged into a spin by a faster car in Fox Hole, one of the narrowest and fastest sections of the track. Once the Cayman started spinning, it was no longer on the minimal dry line and his slicks lost all grip, sending the car ricocheting into the armco barriers on both sides of the track.
Rich was unscathed, but the No. 967 sustained damage from it's encounters with the barriers. After assessing the Cayman, the Breakell Racing team was determined to get back on track. While they would be multiple laps down and out of contention for a result, they knew taking the checkered flag would classify them as “finishers.”
After lengthy repairs, Mann and her teammates re-entered the race, and the car ran flawlessly to the checkered flag.
Mann drove from the middle of the night into the sunrise, with her first full laps at speed—without long slow zones and on slick tires—in the pitch black. Nonetheless, she matched her teammates’ night time pace, and started to get faster as the sun started to rise.
However the weather wasn't finished yet. In Mann's second stint of Sunday morning, rain continuously sprinkled throughout her eight laps. This time she was on slicks, and found the conditions much more manageable than the oprevious day on wet tires. She was able to match her best times of the race so far despite the changing conditions.
After several other cars also ran into issues, the No. 967 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 was eventually classified as earning a 12th-place finish.
“This year the Green Hell decided to give us Hell,”said Mann. “While we all know the "Eifel Wetter" this region is infamous for often factors into races here, this year she was determined to be a star player. The changing conditions made it incredibly difficult for everyone racing this weekend, and while we were involved in one of the incidents, the Breakell Racing team was all heart and determination as they fought to get us back on track so we could race to the finish.
“I want to thank Bell Techlogix, Soft Kill, Cotton Sox, Koicar Racing and Drive Toward a Cure for their support at this year’s event. While we might not have had the result that we wanted this year, there’s a saying: it’s the hard that makes it great. This place is so incredibly difficult to conquer—and have good results at—and it’s the challenge that keeps myself, and the other racers who take part, coming back time and time again. I’m very much hoping to be back at the event in 2027, for another shot at this race."
