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Nürburgring Endurance

Race-Leading Porsche Hit with Five-Minute Penalty

Dominant Manthey Porsche dealt a 5:32 stop-and-hold for speeding under yellows…

Photo: Porsche

The Nürburgring 24-leading No. 911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R has been dealt a five and a half-minute stop and hold penalty for speeding under yellow flags.

The car that has dominated the Nordschleife enduro since 11 p.m. on Saturday night saw its three-minute lead decimated after spending more than 14 hours at the front.

Laurens Vanthoor was caught travelling at 172 km/h in a 120 km/h restricted zone at 9:29 a.m. on Sunday morning.

His co-driver Michael Christensen was ahead of the No. 29 Audi Sport Team Land R8 LMS GT3 Evo when he was called to serve the penalty in Hour 22.

This was set to promote Kelvin van der Linde to the lead of the race, but the South African was overtaken on-track by Frederic Vervisch in the No. 4 Phoenix-entered Audi with two-hours, 25 minutes to go.

He then picked up a puncture which destroyed the rear-right corner of his Audi Sport Team Land car on the way back to the pits.

In addition, the No. 31 Frikadelli Racing Porsche of Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet, Sven Mueller and Romain Dumas recently retired from second place after also picking up a puncture.

Campbell brought the car into the pits for new rubber and repairs, which dropped Frikadelli from second to fifth, before Jaminet stopped at Hatzenbach on his first flying lap since taking over from the Australian.

The No. 31 Porsche had been a mainstay in the top three since the tenth hour, and had been exchanging second place with the No. 48 Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 throughout the night.

A crash for Mann-Filter driver Maxi Goetz in Hour 19 enabled Campbell to assume a healthy advantage over the chasing works-affiliated Audis in the rest of the top five.

This left Campbell with clear air in second place, around a minute and a half behind the No. 911 Manthey car, before both issues encountered their major setbacks.

Another podium contender – the No. 6 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 – crashed from fourth place with two and a half hours to go.

Nico Bastian hit the left-side barrier going through the Eschbach section a few corners after the Karussell, whilst trying to make up the time lost after his co-driver Gabriele Piana made an unscheduled stop for puncture repairs.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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