Estre Leads Opening Hour at Nürburgring

Photo: 24h Media

Kevin Estre is out front of the Nürburgring 24 with one hour in the books.

Estre, in the pole-sitting No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, leads a Porsche 1-2 in the German endurance classic, following a relatively drama-free opening hour.

The Frenchman stretched out his lead to 11 seconds over the No. 44 Falken Motorsports Porsche of Dirk Werner, with Maro Engel in third in the No. 4 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3.

The No. 31 Frikadelli Motorsport Porsche, which qualified third, has slipped to fourth in the hands of Marco Seefried, with the No. 007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of Maxime Martin completing the top-five.

Trouble struck the No. 912 Manthey Porsche on the opening lap when Patrick Pilet was forced to make an unscheduled stop for a left-rear puncture, after running in sixth.

The car has dropped to 26th, and still in the hands of Pilet.

A collision with the No. 25 BWT Audi R8 LMS of Marcel Fassler and the No. 130 BMW 325 CI has seen the Audi factory driver drop back at the end of the hour.

All cars already made their first stops of the race, with a second round beginning at the top of the hour, which has largely seen driver changes and the first of stops utilizing the minimum pit stop times.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John