Final pitstops for the #4 Black Falcon, Engel in for Schneider, and #88 Haribo Mercedes set up a grandstand finish in a chase with the #29 HTP AMG, back to the lead as their rivals pitted and coming around to start lap 128 (after banging in a lap in 8:23!) with a 48 second advantage, Hohenadel tasked with fending off Maro Engel.
Engel was beginning to make inroads, but in tenths per sector only with 47 minutes remaining, effectively 6 laps left in the race.
The #38 Bentley was pushing hard, eager to edge out sufficient margin to enable a last gasp splash and retain position.
42 minutes to go and the gap was down for the lead, but only by just over a second, not nearly enough.
Behind the leading pair the #88 was a further 52 seconds back with a further minute before the #9 Bilstein Black Falcon AMG crossed the line, that earlier penalty for the #9 proving to be very, very costly.
Best of the (non-AMG) rest was a further 4 minutes down, the #23 Rowe Racing BMW hanging on in there and hoping to pick up any scraps from the Mercedes table.
Into the final half hour and Hohenadel was working hard to maintain the lead, and was extending it too, to approaching a full minute.
Elsewhere there was pressure being applied for the minor places, the RJN Nissan fending off the #999 BMW for 11th
10 minutes and the HTP team surprised everyone, #29 pitted for a splash of fuel and then would not refire, the team push started the car, allowable? and by the time the car rejoined the track, 8 minutes remaining, the gap was down to just 5 seconds, with Engel closing.
Engel was pushing very, very hard, the fastest third sector of the entire race closed the gap again, Hohenadel lost further ground with a momentary lift in traffic, and more still with a slower Porsche holding him up through the Karussel.
An 8:19.002, the fastest lap of the race puts Engel less than a second back as the cars cross the line with around 30 seconds left on the clock, the Black Falcon Man picking his spot with a huge lunge up the inside, contact between the two seeing the #4 come off best and grab the lead.
By now the #88 was home in third, the flag coming out at 15:30 before it made it through to join the party.
At the flag Engel came home with a 5.6 second gap, the FIA GT World Cup winning driver scoring pole for the #9 Black Falcon car, and bringing home the sister #4 car for the win.
An amazing finish to an astonishing event!
