After five hours into the race, Audi Team Land Motorsport holds the lead in the 45th ADAC Zurich 24h Race. The team from the Westerwald region has completed 32 laps on the 25.378-kilometre combination of GP circuit and Nordschleife with its Audi R8 LMS #29 and has got a 24.379-second lead over the second-placed WRT Audi #9. Third place still is held by the Haribo Racing Team’s Mercedes-AMG #8. The racing at the front end of the field still is very close, with the first 23 cars still racing on the same lap.
1 – Engel / Christodoulou / Buurman / Metzger (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
18:35hrs Pit stop: Christodoulou for Metzger
8 – Alzen / Arnold / Götz / van der Zande (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
20:32hrs Pit stop for tyres and a driver swap. Renger van der Zande for Maxi Götz.
9 – Müller / Fässler / Frijns / Rast (Audi R8 LMS)
18:50hrs Scheduled pit stop.
10 – Stippler / Rast / Vervisch / Müller (Audi R8 LMS)
19:01hrs Pit stop with driver change. Stippler for Verwisch
19:05hrs Frederic Vervisch: “We had a problem at the beginning. A wheel was loose and we lost a lot of time. Afterwards, the stint was okay.”
20:30hrs Collides while lapping with the Renault Clio #125. Hits the crash barriers and spins across the track. Nico Müller tries at first to continue but realises that he can’t control the car and gets out. The Audi is towed away by the ‘DMSB-Staffel’. At the point in time of the crash it held fourth position.
19 – Klingmann / Müller / Edwards / Onslow – Cole (BMW M6 GT3)
18:49hrs Tom Onslow: “This is my first Nürburgring 24h Race and the fat that I’m here alone is a dream come true! My stint ran rather well. I just love being here. The sun is shining but it’s not too hot in the car as we have got air condition. It’s neither a sauna nor a fridge. And now it should get cooler and easier.”
20 – Krohn / Müller / Spengler / Wittmer (BMW M6 GT3)
19:53hrs Was hit from behind during a Code-60 phase. Bruno Spengler: “Fortunately he hit me straight into the rear, so the damages should only be cosmetic.”
22 – Weiss / Kainz / Keilwitz / Krumbach (Ferrari 488 GT3)
20:23hrs Oliver Kainz for Daniel Keilwitz. Keilwitz: “My stint actually was quite alright and I gained several positions. I occasionally had some bad luck with the traffic but that’s a problem everybody has to cope with. The car runs flawlessly and we are really quick.”
28 – De Phillippi / Mies / Haase / Kaffer (Audi R8 LMS)
18:31hrs Christopher Haase: “It’s rather hot and the pace is really high. The car is running well and the balance is fantastic. The traffic currently is okay but the situation certainly will be more demanding in three to four hours. ”
18:53hrs Scheduled pit stop
29 – De Phillippi / Mies / Winkelhock / van der Linde (Audi R8 LMS)
20:12hrs Pits from the lead, #9 and #5 arguably will follow soon.
30 – Abbelen / Schmitz / Ziegler / Müller (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
19:29hrs Team Principal Klaus Abbelen gets behind the wheel. For the Frikadelli team everything is running as scheduled.
31 – Christensen / Bachler / Siedler / Luhr (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
19:06hrs Driver swap: Lucas Luhr for Klaus Bachler.
20:19hrs Pit stop, Norbert Siedler for Lucas Luhr.
33 – Dumbreck / Imperatori / Dusseldorp / Seefried (BMW M6 GT3)
19:05hrs Pit stop, Dusseldorp for Dumbreck
37 – Brück / Menzel / Verdonck / Jöns (Bentley Continental GT3)
19:47hrs Driver swap, Christian Menzel for Nico Verdonck .
38 – Jöns / Mamerow / Pepper / Brück (Bentley Continental GT3)
18:51hrs Crashes in the Kallenhard area
19:06hr Pit stop with driver swap: Jordan Pepper for Chris Brück.
19:18hrs Chris Brück: “My toughest race to date. It’s hot, very hot in the car. Usually we drivers can drive back-to-back stints but if we did so we would be too tired in the night. Therefore we changed our strategy and drive single stints, now.
19:52hrs Technical defect in the Breidscheid section.
20:19hrs Exits the pit lane and skids in turn one with locked wheels right into the gravel.
19:57hr Pit stop, no driver swap. .
43 – Farfus / Lynn / Felix Da Costa / Scheider (BMW M6 GT3)
18:51rs Alex Lynn for Timo Scheider
18:54hrs Timo Scheider after his first stint: “We have to be slightly more careful and have to opt for a somewhat more conservative approach due to the high temperatures to go easy on our rear tyres. Should we do so we shouldn’t have problems to survive the night.”
44 – Ragginger / Werner / Bergmeister / Vantoor (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
19:37hrs Following an accident Jörg Bergmeister stands in the Kesselchen area.
19:42hrs Update: Jörg Bergmeister informs the team via radio that he was hit by another car while lapping in the Klostertal area and crashed into the crash barriers.
47 – Asch / Baumann / Hohenadel / Mücke (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
19:42hrs Stands in the garage, with mechanics working hard in the engine bay.
48 – Heyer / Schneider / Dontje / Assenheimer (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
19:19hrs Patrick Assenheimer for Kenneth Heyer
20:33hrs Schneider for Assenheimer.
50 – Baumann / Buhk / Mortara / Sandström (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
18:37hrs Pit stop, no driver swap, Baumann continues.
702 – Mutsch / Piccini / Laser / Mailleux (SCG SCG003C)
19:09hrs The sixth-placed Glickenhaus pits.
19:24hrs Felipe Laser for Andrea Piccini and the latter says: “It’s super hot in the car. The BMW and the Audi behind me pressurised me quite a lot. And even more so as I was driving on used tires. Therefore, the last two laps were anything but easy. But we are happy with the race so far.”
704 – Westphal / Mailleux / Simonsen / Laser (SCG SCG003C)
19:32hrs Pit stop with driver swap. Westphal for Mailleux
911 – Dumas / Makowiecki / Pilet / Lietz (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
20:11hrs The damage is beyond repair. The end of the race for the Manthey Porsche.