With seven hours contested, the ADAC Zurich 24h-Race drivers have familiarised themselves with the still difficult weather conditions. In the sixth and seventh hour of the race, they made for thrilling bit trouble-free motor racing. On the slowly drying track in occasionally poor vision, experience is of particular importance. At 22:30hrs, the two Haribo Racing Mercedes-AMG racers #88 and #8 hold the lead. At the end of lap 21, Lance Arnold crossed the line with a 1:15.588-minute lead over the sister car driven by Jan Seyffarth. Third position was held by the remaining Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R #912. The sister car #911was forced into the retirement as early as in the opening stages of the race. Prominent retirement at the beginning of the second fourth of the race: the Schubert Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 #18. Due to a blown engine at the Döttinger Höhe, Jörg Müller had to retire from the lead, right at the pit-lane entrance.
1 – Vanthoor / Mies / Müller / Kaffer (Audi R8 LMS)
21:33hrs Pit stop with driver swap: Laurens Vanthor for Nico Müller.
2 – Leonard / Frijns / Sandström / Vervisch (Audi R8 LMS)
21:10hrs Pit stop for fuel and fresh tyres – driver swap. Frijns for Vervisch.
22:01hrs Pits for fuel and a fresh set of tyres – slicks for wets.
3 – Abbelen / Schmitz / Huisman / Siedler (Porsche 991 GT3 R)
20:54hr On lap 11, the Frikadelli Porsche has dropped back from eighth to 34th position.
20:59hrs There’s a transponder problem in the Frikadelli Porsche and the time keepers have to register the car manually. That’s the reason for the car jumping up and down on the time monitors.
21:13hrs Pit stop with driver swap: Norbert Siedler for Sabine Schmitz,
21:20hrs Sabine Schmitz: “Earlier it still really wet but nor the track start drying and it’s fun to drive. Unfortunately the car lacks power. 220kph at the Döttinger Höhe is the maximum.”
21:27hrs Pits. The car is connected with a laptop and pushed into the garage.
22:18hrs Continues following a long-ish repair break.
4 – Schneider / Engel / Christodoulou / Metzger (Mercedes AMG AMG GT3)
21:15hrs At the Döttinger Höhe, the car drops back from fourth to sixth.
5 – Stippler / Fjordbach / Mortara / Meyr-Melnhof (Audi R8 LMS)
20:57 hrs Drops back from eighth to 13th on lap 12.
21:20hrs Driver swap: Anders Fjordbach for Frank Stippler
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6 – Haase / Rast / Winkelhock / Stippler (Audi R8 LMS)
21:22hrs Pit stop with driver swap: Winkelhock for Haase.
Haase: “In the beginning it was extremely difficult out there A lot of aquaplaning. Now it’s clearly better and the car handles really well.”
22:02hrs Pit stop: slicks for wets. The team has taken the bonnet of and works in the engine area.
22:21hrs Winkelhock back in the pits after two laps because of gear-change problems. The team changes the potentiometer that transfers the impulse from the gear lever to the gearbox.
7 – Thiim / Turner / Sorensen / Lamy (Aston Martin Vantage)
21:28hrs Pit stop with driver swap: Darren Turner for Pedro Lamy.
22:01hrs Hits the crash barriers at Wehrseifen – continues.
8 – Alzen / Arnold / Götz / Seyffarth (Mercedes AMG AMG GT3)
20:37hrs The Haribo GT3 is the car of the front-runners that gained the biggest number of positions. From fifth to first.
21:27hrs Pit stop with driver swap: Seyffarth for Alzen.
14 – Al Faisal / Gerwin / Dontje / Huff (Mercedes AMG AMG GT3)
20:52hrs Scheduled stop. ‘Gerwin’ takes the wheel.
21:03hrs Pit stop for fuel and driver swap: Gerwin for Al Faisal.
16 – Busch / Busch / Mamerow / Rast (Audi R8 LMS)
21:13hrs Pit stop for fuel.
18 – Farfus / Krohn / Müller / Wittmann (BMW M6 GT3)
21:38hrs The Schubert BMW takes the lead.
21:46hrs The leader is stopped by a blown engine at the end of the Döttinger Höhe. The BMW rolls on but tops short before the pit-lane entrance.
21:48hrs The BMW is burning.
21:49hrs Augusto Farfus who was ready for the driver swap: “Well, you could see what happened. I just had prepared for my stint as the M6 was supposed to come in for the scheduled pit stop.”
21 – Weiss / Kainz / Krumbach / Stursberg (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
21:40hrs Pit stop for the WTM-Porsche after a 12-lap stint.
22:26hrs Pits for fuel and slicks. No driver swap.
22 – Graf / Westbrook / Catsburg / Palttala (BMW M6 GT3)
20:34hrs Loses the lead in the Karussell to the two Mercedes AMG previously following it. (#29 und #8)
21:09hrs Puncture at the right rear wheel, pits for a fresh set of tyres.
21:57hrs Pit stop with driver swap: Westbrock for Palttala. Is shod with slicks.
22:00hrs Markus Palttala: “In the beginning it was really difficult. Particularly after the restart there was a lot of water on the track. Therefore, I tried to take the lead as fast as possible. Unfortunately we weren’t lucky and had a puncture that cost us some 20 positions. We switched to slicks now although it actually isn’t dry enough. Bu this will change.”
23 – Sims / Eng / Martin / Werner (BMW M6 GT3)
20:46hrs With a 10:50.177-minute lap the currently fastest car out there.
22:02hrs Tyre change: slicks for wets
27 – Adam / Rees / Lauda / Stanaway (Aston Martin Vantage)
22:07hrs Hits the crash barriers at Ex-Mühle.
22:29hrs Stands in the Pflanzgarten.
29 – Vietoris / Seefried / Hohenadel / Van der Zande (Mercedes AMG AMG GT3)
20:39hrs Spins at stops at the tyre walls at Hatzenbach.
21:07hrs Hohenadel pits for fuel and tyres, continues.
22:22hrs Slicks for wets and driver swap: Van der Zande for Hohenadel.
Hohenadel: “The car is running rather good but in the previous laps, the performance of my wets ceased massively.”
30 – Baumann / Mücke / Buhk / Jäger (Mercedes AMG AMG GT3)
21:11hrs Baumann pits, continues. .
22:23hrs Slicks for wets, Jäger for Baumann.
33 – Ziegler / Saurenmann / Schmidt (Audi R8 LMS)
20:31hrs Off-track moment in the Aremberg-Kurve without hitting anything.
21:05hrs Scheduled pit stop. Ronnie Saurenmann for ‘G. Tonic’.
38 – Brück / Menzel / Smith / Hamprecht (Bentley Continental GT3)
21:16hrs Pit stop with driver swap. Christopher Brück for Guy Smith.. Smith: ‘Racing here is tough anyway, and the fact that I haven’t any wet weather experience at the Nordschleife makes it even tougher for me.”
44 – Dumbreck / Henzler / Ragginger / Imperatori (Porsche 991 GT3R)
21:36hrs Pit stop with driver swap Imperatori for Dumbreck. Dumbreck: “In the opening stages it was really crazy and you automatically drover carefully. Even on the straights I didn’t dare to go flat out. Our car handled really well in the wet but now we unfortunately won’t be able to match the pace of the fastest as they have got a higher top speed.”
64 – Devigus / Weishaupt / Boquoi Toril / Farnbacher (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup)
21:02hrs Pit stop, no driver swap.
22:28hrs Arturo Devigus for Mario Farnbacher
75 – Heyer / Asch / Ludwig / Keilwitz (Mercedes AMG AMG GT3)
20:58hrs Pit stop for tyres and driver swap: Asch for Ludwig.
76 – Weber / Bermes / Preacher / Hennerici (Aston Martin Vantage V8)
20:54hrs Pit stop for fuel.
22:06hrs Superior lead in the SP10/GT4 category.
88 – Alzen / Arnold / Götz / Seyffarth (Mercedes AMG AMG GT3)
21:05hrs The second-placed car comes in for a scheduled pit stop. Maximilian Götz continues.
22:08hrs On lap 19 the first to break the 9.30 barrier: 9:29.391 minutes.
22:29hrs Pit stop with driver swap: Arnold for Götz. Götz: “It’s getting better and better and faster and faster. We now have got the same conditions with a clean and dry racing line like yesterday in the Top 30 Qualifying.”
100 – Edwards / Klingmann / Luhr / Tomczyk (BMW M6 GT3)
21:16hrs Pit stop for fuel and tyres.
22:13hrs Slicks for wets and driver swap: Luhr for Klingmann.
140 – Schoeller / Kuhn / Boquoi Toril (Porsche 991)
21:34hrs Pit stop with driver swap. Andre Kuhn for Miquel Boquoi Toril.
702 – Mutsch / Westphal / SIMONSEN / Laser (SCG SCG003C)
21:25hrs Loses fluid.
911 – Tandy / Estre / Bamber / Pilet (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
20:52hrs Porsche Motorsport Director Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser: “The 911 GT3R #911 won’t rejoin the race. We checked the damages and repairing the car would take too much time. Jörg Bergmeister does a great job at the wheel of the #912 in the wet. The car is clicking like a clockwork. Fred Mako will be the next one to race the car.”
912 – Lietz / Bergmeister / Christensen / Makowiecki (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
21:06hrs The best Porsche is on the way up. Now it already holds sixth position.
21:19hrs The new third-placed car in the overall standings has gained nine positions during the course of 11 laps. On the first installation lap it still was 14th.
21:59hrs The Porsche keeps on working his way up with a 9:33,534-minute lap.
999 – Bouveng / Blomqvist / Krognes / Di Martino (BMW M6 GT3)
21:28hrs Pit stop with driver swap: Blomqvist for Krognes. Krognes: “Driving out there is pure madness. With all the spray you see nearly nothing.”
22:14hrs Pit stop for fuel and tyres. Slicks for wets.
