UPDATE: The race is set to get back underway under a safety car at 13:30.
The cars will then complete five laps under caution and if conditions have not improved sufficiently by that point, race control will call the race.
However, if the weather clears up, the race will go green and run until 16:00 as planned.
This update came in after conditions worsened over lunchtime. Despite the effort to get the cars rolling, significant sections of the track, including the entire GP loop, remain covered by thick fog.
Better news has just come through from race control this morning at the N24. The teams have been told to prepare to exit the pit lane and grid up at 9:30 am local time here in Germany.
This news comes after a lengthy overnight red flag stoppage for fog, which began just before midnight as visibility gradually worsened.
Race control has also confirmed that the pit lane will then close at 9:40 am before the next full update on the restart at 10:00 am.
At the time of writing, the fog is still thick on the Grand Prix loop. Visibility remains limited from what we can see from the windows on both sides of the press room.
It still doesn’t look like we will be racing any time soon. However, the hope is that the fog will begin to clear quickly within the next hour or two, and when it does the race will be able to resume on a short call.
The race director Walter Hornung has also confirmed that when the race does get going again, it will start under safety car.
“The vehicles now drive into the grid and are being sorted there,” he said to the broadcast team. “This means we are ready when conditions change. Then we can get started straight away.
“But the exact time has not yet been determined.”
Under this red flag no parc ferme rules have been applied, this means the teams have been handed the chance to refuel their cars and change tyres ahead of the restart.
Of note, a handful of penalties have been handed out during the stoppage.
This includes the #145 Cerny Motorsport BMW, which leads SP8T. It has been dealt a pair of time penalties (45 and 8o seconds) for not respecting Code 60 speeds.
Falken Motorsports’ #44 Porsche which sits ninth overall in the standings has also been penalised. The crew has received a 32-second time penalty for passing under red flag conditions.
Alesia Kreutzpointner has also been heavily penalised. Kreutzpointner was behind the wheel of the #420 Four Motors Porsche Cayman in the multi-car incident that ended the #99 ROWE BMW’s race in Hour 4.
The stewards have handed her a fine and withdrawn her Ring permit after she was found to be “primarily to blame for the collision”.
DSC will update this news item with any notable information as we approach the restart…
