Max Verstappen has surged to the lead in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, with the expected attrition beginning to take its toll on the SP 9 contenders.
The Dutchman started his double-stint 10th aboard the Winward Racing-run #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG GT3 EVO, and has methodically worked his way through the field since.
He claimed the effective lead with a pass of Manthey’s Ayhacan Güven at Turn 1, as rain briefly began to fall with 21 and a half hours to go, before upgrading that to the actual lead with moves on the #67 HRT Ford Racing Mustang GT3 Evo and #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo 30 minutes later.
Verstappen dragged past HRT Ford Racing’s Dennis Olsen on the Dottinger Hohe, before pouncing when Walkenhorst’s Christian Krognes was held up in traffic at Tiegarten moments later.
At the three-hour mark, the #3 Mercedes-AMG now leads the #67 Ford by 1.944 seconds, but also has a two lap fuel advantage over the Mustang.
Krognes cycled to the front during the second round of pit stops, with co-driver Nicki Thiim electing to complete seven, instead of the regular eight, laps during his second stint. Outside of when Olsen briefly got passed on the exit of a Code 60 zone, the Norwegian held the lead until seven minutes before the three-hour mark, when Verstappen found his way through.
Olsen subsequently made the move for second, before Krognes pitted from third at the end of the third hour.
Güven’s #911 Manthey Porsche therefore runs fourth, 19 seconds off the lead, ahead of the Schubert Motorsport-run #81 BMW M3 Touring 24H, #7 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini, and #80 Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol AMG GT3 EVO.
It’s been an impressive charge through the field from the Winward Racing-run entry, which started 25th, and is on the same strategy as its sister car.
The #1 ROWE Racing BMW, #64 HRT Ford Racing Mustang and recovering #130 Red Bull Team Abt Lamborghini complete the top 10.
The #65 HRT Ford Racing Ford currently leads SP 9 Pro-Am with Hubert Haupt behind the wheel, following an impressive opening double-stint by David Schumacher, whilst SP 9 Am is headed by the #5 Black Falcon Team EAE Porsche.
The first major accident of the race eliminated the #75 Max Kruse Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, which had been leading AT 1. In the second hour, Dominik Fugel had a tyre failure on the approach to Schwedenkreuz, lost control, and sustained heavy front-end damage as he impacted the barrier on drivers’ right.
Also a retirement is the #45 Realize Kondo Racing with Rinaldi Ferrari, which led after the opening round of pit stops in the hands of Thomas Neubauer. At the start of the third hour, Neubauer’s freshly-installed co-driver Thierry Vermeulen was forced onto the grass as he attempted to lap the #969 Porsche Cayman at Hatzenbach. Vermeulen lost the rear of his Ferrari, and rode along the barrier before spinning across the track and heavily impacting the front-end.
An incident between Alexander Sims’ #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi and Jesse Krohn’s #47 KCMG Mercedes-AMG shortly after, meanwhile, has eliminated a pair from contention. In a bizarre collision, Sims rear-ended Krohn in a Code 60 zone. The Briton managed to limp back to the pit lane, where his Audi is currently being assessed, whilst the Mercedes-AMG is still stuck out on circuit.
Image courtesy of Frozenspeed
