Weather Stops Play After Hour 1 in Nürburgring 24

The Nürburgring 24 finished the first hour under a red flag due to hail that made the circuit too treacherous to drive on.

The No. 9 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 started by Maro Engel was the leader at the time of the stoppage, ahead of Jörg Müller in the No. 18 Schubert Motorsport BMW and the No. 88 Haribo Mercedes of Maximillian Götz.

Rain began to fall on lap 5, with only the fourth-placed No. 29 Mercedes-AMG coming into the pits from the leading bunch.

As the rain intensified and formed a river at the Schwedenkreuz left-hand kink, several cars aquaplaned off the road and into the barriers at Aremberg, the No. 30 HTP Mercedes among those to kiss the barriers before rejoining.

Hail at Adenauer Forst became so bad that the cars were unable to climb the hill, leaving the organisers with no option but to throw the red flags. The race is not due to be restarted until 6 p.m. local time.

However, the stoppage came too late for the No. 911 Porsche of Nick Tandy, which crashed out at Höhe Acht in the opening laps.

It came after the Manthey Racing mechanics completed an overnight repair following Kevin Estre’s accident in the Top-30 Qualifying session yesterday.