News and quotes 14:30h

The 23rd hour of the 45th ADAC Zurich 24h Race made for a true drama: At 14:01hrs, the Audi R8 LMS of Audi team Land that held the lead had to come in for an unscheduled pit stop. Following a short check the team diagnosed an electronics problem, a sensor was reset and the car rejoined the race – but the lead was gone, with the sister car of Audi Sport Team WRT taking the lead, followed by the Rowe Racing BMW M6 GT3.  The Land Audi now holds third position..
1 – Engel / Christodoulou / Buurman / Metzger (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
13:32hrs Maro Engel for Adam Christodoulou,
13:46hrs Adam Christodoulou: “The first part of my double stint was really nice. I don’t know if all the cars were driven by other drivers in the second part but I nearly had an accident twice. It’s not easy if the others don’t use their rear-view mirrors. But the car isn’t damaged and that’s the most important fact. We have to keep on pushing as everything can happen in a race like this one.”  .
3 – Müller / Jäger / Engel / Seyffarth (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
13:44 Uhr Thomas Jäger for Dirk Müller.
8 – Alzen / Arnold / Götz / van der Zande (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
14:06 Uhr Lance David Arnold prior to his final stint: “To drive the final stint and be the one to finish the race is nice. I really look forward to doing so. It’s a pity we are slightly behind the front-runners, following the time penalty we received yesterday and couldn’t make up for the lost ground.’
9 – Müller / Fässler / Frijns / Rast (Audi R8 LMS)
13:58 Uhr Rene Rast for Nico Müller.
14:12 Uhr At the end of lap 149 we have got the 20th change in the lead.
14:26 Uhr With 70 more minutes to go, the race leaders have completed 151 laps.
19 – Klingmann / Müller / Edwards / Onslow – Cole (BMW M6 GT3)
12:40 Uhr Scheduled stop. .
13:48 Uhr Onslowe-Cole for Klingmann.
22 – Weiss / Kainz / Keilwitz / Krumbach (Ferrari 488 GT3)
13:32 Uhr Driver swap Daniel Keilwitz  for Georg Weiss, Weiss: “I don’t know our exact position. The car runs flawlessly and that’s really pleasant. But we have to wait and see. After all. There still are two hours to go.”
 
29 – De Phillippi / Mies / Winkelhock / van der Linde (Audi R8 LMS)
12:56hrs Scheduled stop.
14:00hrs Back to the pits after one race on the GP circuit..
14:05 Uhr Major disappointment at Land. The car rejoins the race after a sensor reset but the lead is lost. The power problems seem to be over.  .
14:12 Uhr Kelvin van der Linde tries hard to close in on the leaders
14:14 Uhr Markus Winkelhock: “We fought for 23 hours and no we have to cope with such an end. That’s really bitter. But that’s racing. My team-mates cried and that’s allowed in such a situation. But we possibly could make it to the podium that would be a minor dose of solace. Nonetheless, if you contest this race you also want to win it.”
30 – Abbelen / Schmitz / Ziegler / Müller (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
13:06 Uhr Andreas Ziegler gets into the cockpit for the final time.
31 – Christensen / Bachler / Siedler / Luhr (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
13:21 Uhr Pit stop. Klaus Bachler drives the next stint.
33 – Dumbreck / Imperatori / Dusseldorp / Seefried (BMW M6 GT3)
12:40 Uhr Scheduled pit stop, Seefried for Imperator.
13:55 Uhr Peter Dumbreck for Marco Seefried. Seefried: “What a nice and interesting stint. I had a battle with a Schubert BMW. But passing him was impossible or extremely risky. And I didn’t want to take this risk.”
42 – Wittmann / Blomqvist / Tomczyk / Farfus (BMW M6 GT3)
12:39 Uhr Wittmann: “Winning the race by our own effort is impossible. The gap is far too big. We had problems with the gas pump that cost us 3.5 to four minutes – exactly the time we would need to make it to the podium. Nonetheless, we delivered by battling our way back up from 13th to fourth.
98 – Palttala / Catsburg / Sims / Westbrook (BMW M6 GT3)
13:31hrs Team Principal  Hans-Peter ‘H’” Naundorf: “Everybody tends to moan in the run-up. But you have to take the things as they come and make the best of it. The last 12 hours were really stressful. You fight and fight but the gaps just don’t get smaller. That’s really exhausting as you wait and wait and wait.”
13:37hrs Nick Catsburg for Alexander Sims following a double stint. Catsburg is supposed to finish the race.