Porsche disaster perfect
Now the last 911 from the SP9 Pro has run into problems. Thomas Preining brought the #28 Dinamic Porsche (Engelhart/Cairoli/Ledogar/Preining) into the pits from sixth position. “I had an incident on the Grand Prix track. It’s a shame, it’s actually over now,” said the Austrian. The steering gear was damaged when touched, so another collision involving SP9. The best Porsche 911 GT3 R is now the #33 Falken-Porsche (Evans/S. Müller/Pilet/Seefried), which had to come into the pits with a tire problem in the early stages.
All is not clear and bright with the front runner
The Phoenix-Audi #15 (K. van der Linde/D. Vanthoor/Vervisch/Frijns) has now been feverishly worked on in the engine compartment for the second consecutive pit stop. The Phoenix crew managed this step every time during the regular pit stop time. There is good news to report: After the most recent pit stop, you are again six seconds ahead of the GetSpeed Mercedes #3 (Christodoulou/Götz/Schiller) – plus the 23 seconds that you will gain from the later pit stop.
Glickenhaus and others for repair
The Glickenhaus SCG004c #706 (Mutsch/Laser/Mailleux/Westbrook), which, depending on the pit stop, swapped places at the bottom of the top 10, has to be pushed into the garage after Franck Mailleux slipped in the Adenauer Forst area. Work is being done on the underbody under the engine.
At the same time in the garage are the True-KTM #117 (F. Stuck/J. Stuck/Palttala/Kofler) after electronic problems and the Octane126-Ferrari #26 (Grossmann/Trummer/Hirschi/Ludwig), which is already back in P17 in the classification had climbed. Here, too, there was probably an accident relatively late on the lap.
First signs of the end of the night
Dusk sets in in the northeast, so it will soon be lighter again. But half is just over. The world looks a bit brighter at the moment with the Schubert-BMW #20 (Krohn/Sims/Klingmann/Krütten). Jesse Krohn is currently setting competitive times and remains within striking distance at 2:30 minutes behind the leaders plus three to four laps in hand.
Risks must still be taken at the top. The lead of the #3 over the #15 has now melted down to ten seconds. Robin Frijns puts pressure on Fabian Schiller. Meanwhile, a Supra has to be recovered from the gravel of the AMG Arena.
Getspeed ahead of Phoenix now
The GetSpeed Mercedes #3 (Christodoulou/Götz/Schiller) made a leap forward at the last stop. Fabian Schiller has taken the lead and is 16.7 seconds ahead of Robin Frijns. Adjusted for strategy, the Audi is still ahead, but now only by six seconds.
half time! What happened until now
The 4 o’clock halftime look at a dramatic first half of the race:
– Octane126 Ferrari lead is short-lived
– Repair after collision throws BMW juniors far behind
– Rowe-BMW #99 shoots down Toksport-WRT-Porsche #27
– Manthey-Porsche #1 crashes violently at the Antoniusbuche after a duel between Laurens and Dries Vanthoor
– Felix von der Laden’s KTM X-Bow catches fire and, without a driver, rolls down in the direction of the Fuchsöhrle while it’s on fire.
– Aston Martin takes the lead, but flies off at the entrance to Döttinger Höhe after seven hours
– Just a few minutes later, new leader Sheldon van der Linde had an accident in the mine after a puncture or a broken suspension
– Kelvin van der Linde eliminates the #5 in a lapping accident
– Walkenhorst-BMW #101 out after Andy Soucek’s accident, KTM #116 out after Tim Heinemann’s accident
– Phoenix-Audi #15, both Getspeed-AMGs and Schubert-BMW fight for victory
Slight impact Juncadella
The chances of the #4 GetSpeed Mercedes (Engel/Gounon/Juncadella) have not necessarily increased: Daniel Juncadella spun at the exit of the Ravenol curve and hit the tire wall. He drives on with loss of time. With the same strategy, the gap to the leading Audi is now 1:26 minutes.
Near-crash for leaders
Dries Vanthoor in the leading Phoenix-Audi #15 (K. van der Linde/D. Vanthoor/Vervisch/Frijns) almost crashed into the Glickenhaus-SCG004c #706 (Mutsch/Laser/Mailleux/Westbrook) that was about to be lapped. That just went well. The small lead over the Getspeed AMGs remains stable.
It is currently four degrees Celsius. That’s already the lowest limit for the tires to stay in the operative window. The fact that there are three Code 60 zones makes things even more difficult for the drivers.
Top KTM done
That’s it for the True-KTM #116 (Kofler/Siljehaug/Hofer/Heinemann). Tim Heinemann had an accident on the Nordschleife ramp. Is this related to the Cayman #85 accident? In any case, the Marshals have repeated Thursday’s curious accident. This towing operation also resulted in a collision between the salvage vehicle and the salvaged vehicle.
Accidents shift to other classes
In the meantime, the gait has calmed down a bit, at least in SS9. Experience shows that whoever survives the first third has a good chance of getting through the last two thirds – even if there is of course no guarantee. The brutal gait of the first few hours has subsided, and the track has already become noticeably emptier.
Nevertheless, the crash continues: The Black Falcon Cayman #85 (Meenen/M. Müller/Palluth/Wahl) collided with one of the GT2 X-Bows and hit it hard. The Subaru #114 (van Dam/Schrick/Lasee/Sasaki) is in the Adenauer Forest, with the Cupra #832 at the Wippermann entrance.
Update to #101
According to the race organizers, there was an accident involving the Walkenhorst BMW #101 (Krognes/Soucek/Trogen/J. Müller). We’ve given up counting now, but by now there must have been around a dozen GT3 cars that either had to drop out or fall behind hopelessly as a result of accidents.
The #3 is back
Getspeed hasn’t given up on the thing yet. Adam Christodoulou in the GetSpeed Mercedes #3 (Christodoulou/Götz/Schiller) makes a new attempt to catch up the ten to 15 seconds on the Phoenix Audi #15 (K. van der Linde/D. Vanthoor/Vervisch/Frijns). The following still applies: The #3 comes one lap earlier than the #15 and also than the #4, so it effectively has a disadvantage of 23 seconds compared to these two vehicles. Nevertheless, you are currently ahead of the team within the team.
On the other hand, the Schubert-BMW #20 (Krohn/Sims/Klingmann/Krütten) is gradually falling behind. Jens Klingmann is currently driving a double stint and simply does not have the speed of the first three vehicles. Now in the top 10: The Glickenhaus SCG004c #706 (Mutsch/Laser/Mailleux/Westbrook).
BMW has to make another sacrifice
The Walkenhorst-BMW #101 (Krognes/Soucek/Trogen/J. Müller) has a dovetail. Looks like a technical defect. The Walkenhorst team, running on Yokohama tyres, had had a surprisingly weak race up to this point and was unable to keep up the pace, especially at the beginning. Recently they drove competitive lap times, but that looks like the end of a business trip. The only remaining BMW M4 GT3 from the Pro class is now the #20 Schubert BMW (Krohn/Sims/Klingmann/Krütten), which ranks between P1 and P5 depending on the pit stop and is realistically third.
Walter Hornung criticizes
Race manager Walter Hornung, like so many others here, is stunned by the pace. In an official statement he says: “We had a few serious accidents, fortunately none of them hurting us. Unfortunately, we had to impose a few penalties, which then also have an impact on the race. Accidents when overtaking don’t have to happen – we’re driving a long-distance race, no sprint. We don’t even have halftime and I would like a quieter night now.”
Müller’s deserved punishment
The Car Collection Audi #22 (Haase/N. Müller/Niederhauser/Rast) gets a penalty of 1:32 minutes for shooting down the Falken Porsche. Realistically, Audi only has #15 in the race for the moment, but it also has the best chances.
#4 is losing ground
After Maximilian Götz got close earlier, the #15 Phoenix Audi (K. van der Linde/D. Vanthoor/Vervisch/Frijns) shortened the stint. It’s now in the same pit rhythm as the GetSpeed Mercedes #4 (Engel/Gounon/Juncadella). However, the gap is surprisingly large and is now around a minute. The Schubert-BMW #20 (Krohn/Sims/Klingmann/Krütten) is also still in the draw for victory and repeatedly leads for three laps. However, he has also lost time recently. At the moment