The Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by the Manthey Racing works team has made it safely through the night at the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. With six hours to the finish of this gripping and eventful Eifel classic, which was red-flagged for three hours on Saturday due to a severe storm with rain and hail, the number 912 nine-eleven driven by Michael Christensen (Denmark) is still running in sixth position. His teammates with whom he will make a renewed attempt to claim the top spot in the closing phase of the race are Richard Lietz (Austria), Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France).
“It’s important to survive the night at the Nürburgring“, said Head of Porsche Motorsport Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser. “We kept out of trouble and have held on to sixth place. The weather conditions were pretty bad early on in the night but then it dried up. We now have six hours of racing to go, which is the same distance as an entire WEC race. We have three WEC distances behind us, but now it counts. For us, this means to go all out again. It looks as if it will rain again. And thanks to our traction advantage, rain has always been known as Porsche weather.”
“There’s a lot happening out there on the circuit. With fog and several accidents you have to be really careful. I’m pleased we’ve made it this far without any problems,” said Richard Lietz after his night stint. Jörg Bergmeister added: “Things were chaotic in the morning with lots of cars at the side of the racetrack. Towards the end of my stint it was great driving and loads of fun. Our car ran flawlessly. The cool temperatures aren’t causing us any problems.”
Live on TVRTL Nitro broadcasts the complete race live. As part of its Formula 1 coverage from Monaco, RTL televises the finish on Sunday from 15.45 hrs.
Standings after 18 hours1. Alzen/Arnold/Götz/Seyffarth (D/D/D/D), Mercedes, 93 laps2. Schneider/Engel/Christodoulou/Metzger (D/D/GB/D), Merecedes, 933. Vietoris/Seefried/Hohenadel/Van der Zande (D/D/D/NL), Mercedes, 936. Lietz/Bergmeister/Christensen/Makowiecki (A/D/DK/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 9311. Dumbreck/Henzler/Ragginger/Imperatori (GB/D/A/CHN), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 9115. Weiss/Kainz/Krumbach/Stursberg (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 9022. Klohs/Schmidtmann/Richter/Renauer (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 86
