News and quotes 19:00 to 21:00hrs The top positions in this year's edition of the ADAC Zurich 24h Race seem to be secured -- for the time being, that is. With five hours and 33 laps respectively of the race completed, the Phoenix-Racing Audi R8...
News and quotes 19:00 to 21:00hrs
The top positions in this year's edition of the ADAC Zurich 24h Race seem to be secured -- for the time being, that is. With five hours and 33 laps respectively of the race completed, the Phoenix-Racing Audi R8 LMS (#99) still holds the lead and as it can complete a lap more than its opponents per stint, it consistently extends its lead. Second and third positions are held by the two Manthey-Racing Porsches (#1 and #2) that lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife in synchronised-swimming style. At a certain point in time, the Phoenix squad had extended its lead over the Manthey cars to nearly a minute but up to 21:00hrs, the Porsches had closed in again and were less than ten seconds behind. At nightfall, the fourth-placed Audi R8 LMS (#97) of Christian Abt, Jean-Francois Hemroulle, Pierre Kaffer and Lucas Luhr was followed by the BMW Z4 M-Coupe entered by Schubert-Motorsport. From their 17th position on the grid, Claudia Hurtgen, Stian Sorlie, Augusto Farfus and Dirk Muller gained 12 positions. And with consistent lap times, the Raeder-Team's Ford GT also succeeded in making up for some of the lost ground. The squad had lost many positions due to Dirk Adorf spinning in the first hour but at 21:00hrs, the GT had worked its way back up to 12th.
# 1 (Bernhard / Lieb / Dumas / Tiemann) Porsche 911 GT3-RSR
19:50hrs: Marcel Tiemann takes over from Romain Dumas.
Dumas: "At the beginning of my turn there was a lot of traffic on the track.
Therefore, I lost a lot of time. And when I thought that I finally could
really go for it the tank was nearly empty -- and I had to come in for the
pit stop."
# 2 (Collard / Henzler / Lietz / Werner) Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S
19:33hr: Driver swap: Richard Lietz is replaced by Wolf Henzler.
Lietz: "Now I have contested my first stint in my maiden Nurburgring 24h
Race. I t was big fun but difficult as there were two building sites. An
amazing experience and completely new for me as things like this don't exist
in races at other venues."
# 6 (Alzen / Menzel / Schwager / Fricke) Porsche 911 GT3
19:45hrs: The Porsche of Jurgen Alzen holds sixth position, the one of his
brother Uwe follows right behind in seventh. Jurgen Alzen: "Forget the catch
word 'A battle of brothers.' Uwe is a competitor like everybody else. Family
is family -- but when you're racing you're racing. And I think Uwe shares my
point of view."
20:10hr: Florian Fricke: "We cope well with the traffic and are really
happy. We want to keep our lap times on this level while rolling through the
night. It's extremely hot in the car and that's very exhausting."
# 7 (Bez / Poritt / Meaden / Mathai) Aston Martin V12 Vantage
20:35hrs: Bez following his stint: "We've designed and built a fantastic
production car that now proves its competitiveness in motor racing. We are
truly happy with the performance. Now it's vital to finish. I encountered a
minor collision in my stint -- but our car survived the incident without
suffering any damage."
# 12 (Renger / Rehfeld / Kissling / Strycek) Chevrolet Corvette C6
20:38hrs: Scheduled pit stop, Strycek replaces Rehfeld: "I completed my
second stint. It's damned hot in the car. "We've finally found a good
balance, now, and can be satisfied with our lap times. The Kissling guys
really give their very best."
# 21 (Riebensahm / Kohlhaas / Gerhard / ) Dodge Viper GT3
20:42hrs: Riebensahm: "Everything runs as scheduled. We had to change the
brake pads early but now we have found a good balance and optimise our Viper
step by step. Our times are okay but we deliberately don't push too hard to
go easy on the material."
# 40 (Tilke / Adorf / Hennerici / Mutsch) Ford GT
19:14hrs: Hermann Tilke gets out of the car, Marc Hennerici continues.
Tilke: "Due to two accidents the crash barriers had to be repaired in two
areas. Therefore I had to go with two wheels over the grass, in a section.
But the building sites were marked well with pylons and therefore, this
didn't represent a problem at all."
20:40hrs: As scheduled, Dirk Adorf replaces Hennerici in the cockpit of the
GT. Team Principal Raeder: "We now let it roll and go a similar pace as the
leaders. At the beginning of the race we demonstrated what we are able to
do."
# 99 (Basseng / Fassler / Rockenfeller / Stippler) Audi R8 LMS
20:51hrs: Mike Rockenfeller: "Currently things look quite promising for us.
Marc opened a 40-second gap, in his stint. The car is running flawlessly and
driving it is big fun. Let's wait and see what we can achieve over the
distance. I hope that it will remain dry as it might become slightly more
difficult for us, in wet conditions."
# 117 (Sainz / Simon / Depping / Kaufmann) VW Scirocco
19:58hrs: Carlos Sainz: "Things are running really well for us. I truly
enjoy the race, this year, and I'm better prepared than last year. 23rd
position in the overall rankings represents a good basis."
-credit: adac.24
