Audi Remains in Lead with Four Hours to Go at Nürburgring

The No. 4 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra continues to lead the Nürburgring 24 with four hours to go.

The period started with the rival No. 1 Black Falcon Mercedes being dispatched as a threat to the Audi. It suffered a penalty that in chess terms cost the team a tempo.

In this race one can take a penalty and then proceed to the regular box for service. The Black Falcon team did this but they still lost good chunk of lap. However, such is the Nordschleife that within 40 minutes the red Mercedes was again threatening for the lead.

They were not alone. The last of the breed No. 20 Schubert BMW was in the hunt and worked ahead into second place.

The Schubert car was also penalty prone, having been called in for punting off a Porsche Cayman.

Several cars reeled off faster laps than they had even in the earlier, cooler hours. An exception was at the front where both station keeping and waiting for a final twist of strategy was the order of the day.

There were also some heated developments, most clearly in the SP7 class where the two leaders were in mirror-windscreen sight of each other.

They swapped spots several times during the period and at high noon the Teichmann Racing Porsche had a slight edge over the Black Falcon version.

The No. 48 Gazoo Racing Lexus did consolidate a broad margin in SP8. The Japanese entrant’s lone SP Pro class Lexus seems a shoo-in as the lone Porsche has faded.

Among those hitting trouble in the morning was the Thunderhill 25 Hour-winning Rotek Audi, which had an oil leak and subsequent engine problems.

Another Teichmann Racing Porsche Cup car, No. 62, had a run-in inside the GP course with the No. 18 Audi R8. Another SP7 runner, the one-off Kremer built 997 GT3 KR, suffere a blown motor.