24 Hours of Nürburgring Red Flag after 7 Hours 23’

NUR24SRO

Jun 2

With rain falling 20’ before the start, the start grid of the 52nd ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring (N24) was modified at green flag depending on tires choice: starting the formation lap on slicks, the pole-sitting #72 BMW M4 GT3 of Dan Harper pitted before the green flag while Estre (#911 Porsche), Farfus (#99 BMW), Audi #16, Ferrari #1 and Lamborghini #27 took green flag with rain tires.

First hour for the « Grello »

Maro Engel, on slicks with #130 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo overtook Estre in the Grand Prix portion but not for long as he encountered wetter conditions at Schwedenkreuz.

Spectators then saw a real sprint race between Estre (#911 Porsche « Grello ») and Farfus (#99 BMW M4 GT3) swapping leadership on several occasions.

Kévin Estre (F, Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911): “The start wasn’t easy. We made the right decision to opt for rain tyres and so did Augusto Farfus in the BMW, but there are different designs so that’s why I was faster in some sections of the track, and Augusto in others. I made the most of a lapping opportunity in the ‘Adenauer Forst' and overtook without taking too much of a risk. We were possibly a lap too late switching to slicks at the end of the first stint. We didn’t want to risk anything, so we played it safe. That cost us a bit of time, but in the end, everything worked out fine. We can’t quite match the top pace of the BMW on dry tyres – they’re very fast on the straights, but we’re giving it our best and the race is still long.” Source: Porsche

Farfus puts #99 BMW M4 GT3 « on orbit »

A bit after 5pm, Farfus pitted changing tires for slicks. The overall ranking was reshuffled during the period of pitting with Farfus taking the lead and gradually increasing the gap with its followers.

Sheldon van der Linde took over the wheel of the #99 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 before being involved in a three-car accident while leading the race. That was the end for the #99 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3.

Sheldon van der Linde (#99 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE Racing): “My heart hurts after such an accident, and it wasn't my fault. If I were in that situation again, I would do exactly the same thing. I believe the driver in the other car didn't see me. I was in her blind spot as I passed. I was almost past, and then she hit me on the left rear. Then I hit another car that was completely uninvolved, and that's how it happened. A racing incident. But at the end of the day, we were out after leading for so long and that hurts, also for the team, which puts so much work into it. We work almost half a year towards a 24-hour race, and then it goes so wrong.” Source: BMW Group

Alesia Kreutzpointner, who was driving the #420 Four Motors Porsche Cayman was found to be “primarily to blame for the collision” for the multi-car incident that ended the #99 ROWE BMW’s race, was handed a fine and withdrawn her Ring permit. Very correct reaction by race stewards but it does not bring Frijns, Vanthoor, van der Linde and Farfus the type of result they were heading for after strongly dominating the race.

Audi #16 takes the lead

Dennis Marschall with the #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II the took the leadership ahead of Jusuf Owega with the #3 Bilstein Mercedes-AMG.

Lamborghini Leading at 6 hours mark

Kelvin van der Linde with the #27 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 lead the N24 with six hours of racing completed, a minute clear of Charles Weerts with the #72 BMW M4 GT3 until they both pitted which promoted the #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Frank Stippler back to the lead of the race.

Red flag

With fog descending heavily upon the circuit race officials elected to red-flag the N24.

At the time, Christopher Mies was leading the race with #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II ahead of Dan Harper in the #72 Team RMG BMW M4 GT3 (+1.259 sec.), #911 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R (+37.704 sec.) and Arjun Maini in the #4 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (+22.504 sec.).