The No. 912 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R has been hit with a lengthy penalty in the closing hours of the Nürburgring 24, relinquishing the lead to Black Falcon and Mercedes-AMG.
A Code 60 speeding violation for the factory Porsche around has resulted in a 3-minute and 32-second penalty handed to Fred Makowiecki.
According to race stewards, the car was found to have gone between 20-39 km/h over the 60 km/h speed limit at a slow zone around 4 a.m.
Makowiecki, who held a three-minute lead over the No. 4 Black Falcon Mercedes of Maro Engel prior to serving the penalty, has dropped to second, with less than four hours to go.
Weather conditions, meanwhile, have deteriorated in the last hour, with fog rolling in at portions of the circuit, as well as an increased amount of steady rain.
The No. 6 Black Falcon Mercedes of Gabriele Piana has moved into third, ahead of the No. 007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, which has already made its 19th pit stop of the race.
Land Motorsport’s No. 1 Audi R8 LMS GT3, which crashed in the hands of Kelvin van der Linde, has returned to action after quick repair work by the German squad, although has dropped to seventh.