24H Nurburgring: Hour 17 update

News and quotes 07.00 to 09.00 hrs With seven more hours to go in the 37th ADAC Zurich 24h Race, the fierce battle between Manthey-Porsche and Audi is continued and the fastest representatives of each camp (Phoenix-Audi ...

News and quotes 07.00 to 09.00 hrs

With seven more hours to go in the 37th ADAC Zurich 24h Race, the fierce battle between Manthey-Porsche and Audi is continued and the fastest representatives of each camp (Phoenix-Audi # 99 and Porsche # 1) alternate as race leaders following every single pit stop. Together with their sister cars, ('Cup S' Porsche # 2 and Abt-Sportsline R8 # 97) they represent a flat-out convoy holding a three-lap lead over the rest of the field. At 09:00hrs, the race leader has changed for the 18th time, with the R8 LMS raced by Basseng, Fassler, Rockenfeller und Stippler (# 99) now being back in the lead.

# 1 (Bernhard / Lieb / Dumas / Tiemann) Porsche 911 GT3-RSR
8.25hrs: Marcel Tiemann: "The car is running incredibly well. I'm delighted that the time-penalty we received has been withdrawn. Particularly as I was the one who was sitting behind the wheel at that point in time. I've just set the fastest lap. Should things continue like that our chances of winning the race are looking good."

# 4 (Kraling / Gindorf / Scharmach / Holzer) Porsche 911 GT3
8.55hrs: Marco Holzer: "Our gearshift lever broke tonight. Therefore, we stood in the garage for 20 or 25 minutes. But now the car is fine again."

# 6 (Alzen / Menzel / Schwager / Fricke) Porsche 911 GT3
8.20hrs: Team Principal Gerald Schall: "Jurgen Alzen just stranded in the Breidscheid section. He told us via the pit radio that the engine stalled all of a sudden and refuses to restart again."

# 26 (Bovensiepen / Wirth / Engstler / Bernhardt) BMW Alpina B6 GT3
8.00hrs: 3:26-minte time credit for the three-minute stop-and-go penalty received at 02:30hrs. The analysis of the data provided by the data logger built in by the race organisers demonstrated that the speed while passing the dangerous situation had been appropriate.

# 98 (Stuck / Biela / Pirro / Fassler) Audi R8 LMS
8.33hrs: Marcel Fassler: "We try to work our way further up in the overall standings. A difficult task when you are 40 minutes behind. The track conditions are absolutely okay. Now there's only one strategy for us: push, push, push!"

# 99 (Basseng / Fassler / Rockenfeller / Stippler) Audi R8 LMS
8.15hrs: Mike Rockenfeller: "We are among the front-runners and that's where we wanted to be. I lost some time in the traffic, in my stint. Once I wasn't happy with my tyre choice -- I had opted for the wrong compound. Now we want to continue battling it out for the race win. I think that things are looking promising for us."

# 117 (Sainz / Simon / Depping / Kaufmann) VW Scirocco
8.49hrs: In the section Sprunghugel / Pflanzgarten, Dieter Depping collides with BMW # 80. Both cars have to retire.