24H Nurburgring: Hour one update

News and quotes 16:00 to 17:00hrs This Saturday at 16:00hrs, the 37th edition of the ADAC Zurich 24h Race was started and the field rocketed away to entertain the crowds with fantastic motor-racing right away. The arguably most thrilling battle ...

News and quotes 16:00 to 17:00hrs

This Saturday at 16:00hrs, the 37th edition of the ADAC Zurich 24h Race was started and the field rocketed away to entertain the crowds with fantastic motor-racing right away. The arguably most thrilling battle was delivered by the Reader-Motorsport Ford GT (#40) that had started from pole position and Manthey Racing's 911 GT3-RSR (#1). Temporarily the gap between the two cars amounted to just a few centimetres while they chased each other around the 25.378-kilometre combination of the Grand Prix circuit and the Nurburgring's legendary Nordschleife. At the same time, they succeeded in opening a gap of up to 14 seconds on the rest of the field. On lap six, however, Ford driver Adorf lost the lead and dropped back after having made slight contact with another car and spinning. Now, the Manthey-Porsche (#1) took the lead, followed by the Phoenix Audi (#99) and the Manthey team's second Porsche (#2).

Mattias Ekstrom had to make an unscheduled break alongside the track as the Audi R8 LMS was hit by another car and the engine stopped. The Swede had to wait for nearly 30 minutes before he could rejoin the race.

# 25 (Engels / Schall / Rebhan / Stuck) BMW Alpina B6 GT3
Vehicle pits at the end of his first lap on the GP circuit. Team Principal Andreas Bovensiepen: "Our throttle broke off. Annoying but we will solve the problem."

# 40 (Tilke / Adorf / Hennerici / Mutsch) Ford GT
16:23hrs: Team Principal Nicki Raeder: "I'm done with the gasping is over."
16:50hrs: While approaching the 'Hohe Acht', the Ford GT and car #70 make slight contact. Adorf spins and loses the lead.
16:54hrs: Adorf pits and Mutsch replaces him at the wheel. First-stint
driver Adorf: "A real high-speed incident. The car I was going to lap acted properly and gave way to me but unfortunately, there was slight contact, nevertheless. I spun and came to a standstill in nearly opposite direction to the traffic -- and could look in the eyes of the drivers passing me. I have to pay Marc Lieb a compliment for his fair driving right from the start. In the tight corners he could close in on me and he also was faster when exiting the corners. Apart from that, however, we were on the same level."

# 60 (Muller / Priaulx / Übler / Schurig) BMW M3 GT4
16:06hrs: Following a collision with another competitor, Jorg Muller pits. The wheel track has to be readjusted, then the car rejoins the race action.

# 98 (Stuck / Biela / Pirro / Fassler) Audi R8 LMS
3 minute stop-and-go penalty for having ignored yellow flags.

# 100 (Scheider / Werner / Ekstrom / Luhr) Audi R8 LMS
16:05hrs: First-stint driver Mattias Ekstrom slows down on the Nordschleife and parks the Audi R8 LMS next to a post at the Quiddelbacher Hohe. It takes him until 16:38 hours before he can rejoin the action to slowly drive back to the pits.

# 128 (von Bohlen u. Halbach / Oestreich / Grohs / Hess) BMW Mini Cooper
Friedrich von Bohlen: "Markus Oestreich collided with a BMW on lap one while the cars were just entering the Nordschleife. The Mini hit the tyre walls at 100kph head-on. The race is over for us. We pack up."