News and quotes, quotes from 12:30hrs

The 45th ADAC Zurich 24h Race slowly is approaching its home straight. 138 laps into the race, Audi Sport Team Land’s #29 still are the dominating leaders. In the past 21 hours of racing, the experienced Nordschleife specialists Christopher Mies, Connor De Phillippi, Markus Winkelhock and Kelvin van der Linde opened a 2:15.071-minute gap over the second-placed WRT Audi #9.  With three more hours to go, the lead of the two best-placed teams over the Rowe Racing BMW M6 GT3 #98 in third position amounts to more than a lap, with the Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon #1 following another three minutes behind..
1 – Engel / Christodoulou / Buurman / Metzger (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
11:21hrs Adam Christodoulou for Manuel Metzger.
12:27 Uhr Scheduled stop.
9 – Müller / Fässler / Frijns / Rast (Audi R8 LMS)
10:33hrs Driver swap, Marcel Fässler for Robin Frijns.
29 – De Phillippi / Mies / Winkelhock / van der Linde (Audi R8 LMS)
10:32hrs Scheduled stop, no driver swap.
11:20hrs The leading Audi increase its lead over its toughest rival, #9, by at least five seconds per lap.
30 – Abbelen / Schmitz / Ziegler / Müller (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
10:35hrs Andreas Ziegler: “A good stint. I had to be careful while overtaking and let the leaders pass – and I succeeded in doing so. It’s really hot in the car – like going to sauna, dress yourself and go in for sports.”
30 – Abbelen / Schmitz / Ziegler / Müller (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
11:45hrs Alex Müller for Klaus Abbelen .
31 – Christensen / Bachler / Siedler / Luhr (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
10:50 Uhr Lucas Luhr: “We can’t match the pace of the leaders but want to continue on a consistent level and finish the race. We know from the past that the Green Hell tends to absorb some cars at the very end of the race.
Let’s hope that we aren’t one of them and we will be able to gain some positions, instead. .
11:0hrs Norbert Siedler for Lucas Luhr.
33 – Dumbreck / Imperatori / Dusseldorp / Seefried (BMW M6 GT3)
11:01hrs Alexandre Imperatori for Stef Dusseldorp.
11:14hrs Hits the rear the Manthey-Porsche #150 under yellow.
11:16hrs The Falken BMW has to take the emergency exit in the Veedol Chicane.
11:31hrs Following the off-track moment, resulting in a damaged tyre, the team checks the right rear-wheel suspension and brakes before the car is sent out again without fixing two cooling hoses. Team-Manager Sven Schnabl: “It must work for one stint. We hadn’t the hoses available and didn’t want to lose even more time. We will fix them after this stint.”
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42 – Wittmann / Blomqvist / Tomczyk / Farfus (BMW M6 GT3)
12:18hrs Blomqvist for Wittmann.
98 – Palttala / Catsburg / Sims / Westbrook (BMW M6 GT3)
12:20hrs Stop without driver swap. Sims is driving a double stint..
704 – Westphal / Mailleux / Simonsen / Laser (SCG SCG003C)
11:03hrs Accident in the Flugplatz area. The car went off in the second kink, crashed backwards into the crash barriers and must be salvaged, now. The driver, Andreas Simonsen is okay and gets out of the car.
11:07hrs The car is towed away.