Phoenix Audi Leads N24 with Six Hours Remaining

Audi Sport Team Phoenix has settled into a leading position in the Nürburgring 24 with six hours remaining on the clock.

The No. 15 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, currently driven by Frederic Vervisch,  holds a lead of 19 seconds to the No. 3 Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Adam Christodoulou.

The Phoenix Audi, which led at the 12-hour mark briefly lost the lead to the No. 3 Mercedes shortly after the halfway point with Fabian Schiller moving ahead of Robin Frijns.

The Dutchman was then able to pull a gap before handing over to Kelvin van der Linde.

Van der Linde subsequently moved into a battle with the No. 20 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Alex Sims, which was the lone remaining competitive BMW.

The Schubert car often cycled to the front, until Van der Linde remained ahead coming out of the pits following a stop halfway through hour 16.

This led to a battle between the two, with Sims drafting past the Audi at the Dottinger Höhe and down into Tiergarten.

Later, Sims would slide off the track during a brief light rain shower, hitting the battle between Metzgesfeld and Kallenhard, causing a right-front puncture and dropping the car back outside the podium positions.

The Phoenix Audi now sits in first from the No. 4 GetSpeed Mercedes and Rene Rast third in the No. 22 Audi Sport Team Car Collection car, although the hour mark was right in the middle of a pit cycle. Some cars were out of position as a result.

The No. 3 GetSpeed Mercedes of Adam Christodolou held fourth, ahead of Schubert’s Jesse Krohn.

 Kim Luis Schramm sits in sixth for Scherer Sport Team Phoenix ahead of Nico Bastian.

Luca Stolz, Mattia Drudi and Dennis Olsen round out the top ten.

Further down the field, the Cup 2 class lead changed hands in dramatic hands when Paul Harkema smacked the barrier at Tiergarten hard in the class-leading No. 121 Black Falcon Team Identica Porsche 992 GT3 Cup.

As a result, the No. 127 Kkraemer Racing Porsche now leads with Christopher Brueck at the wheel.

The lead in the SP8T, SP10 and TCR classes has remained largely unchanged since the halfway point. 

The No. 95 Doerr Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4, driven by Moritz Wiskirchen leads in SP8T while Ben Green heads SP10 in the No. 78 FK Performance Motorsport BMW M4 GT4.

The No. 830 Hyundai Motorsport Elantra TCR, currently in the hands of Marc Basseng, holds the class lead in TCR.

Positions after 18 hours