Max Verstappen was back behind the wheel of the #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG shortly after 9:00am local time on Sunday morning for an expected double stint, holding a lead of 13 seconds over the Ravenol Racing #80 car of Luca Stolz. After some close racing between Verstappen and Maro Engel during the night, the two Winward Racing-run cars had now settled into a rhythm, with one eye on not throwing away a first victory for Mercedes at the race since 2016.
As it happened…
Shortly after the halfway point, de Phillippi in the #81 BMW M3 Touring got ahead of Dries Vanthoor in the #99 ROWE BMW for fourth overall, continuing a very strong run for the fan-favourite SP-X entry.
The leading car in the SP9 Am class, the #5 Black Falcon Porsche, pitted having only completed the GP loop after contact caused right-front damage to the car. The front splitter, steering link and input shaft were changed, leading to 30 minutes lost in the pits.
Back in SP9 Pro, there was a setback for the #69 Doerr Motorsport McLaren, when its ex-F1 driver Timo Glock had his Nordschleife permit suspended, having racked up four penalty points for speeding in Code 60 zones.
With just over 11 hours to run, Max Verstappen in the #3 Winward Mercedes led Maxime Martin in the #80 sister car by over 20 seconds. The next round of stops saw the F1 champion hand over to co-driver Jules Gounon, while Martin remained aboard the Ravenol-backed car.
Matti Drudi continued to circulate in third at the wheel of the #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin, ahead of Vanthoor and de Phillippi (below). In sixth, Mirko Bortolotti continued the polesitting #84 Abt Lamborghini’s recovery drive after its early-race setbacks, rounding out the runners still on the same lap as the leader.
Drudi handed over to Nicki Thiim with 10-and-a-half hours to go, while de Phillippi’s next stop saw him hand over to Jens Klingmann. This next sequence of stops also saw the #3 Mercedes undergo a brake change as Gounon remained aboard, while the #80 came in for a driver change, Martin getting out and Fabian Schiller getting in. For the #99 BMW, it was Vanthoor out, Dan Harper in.
Struggles for the formerly front-running #67 Ford continued as Fred Vervisch picked up flat right-rear tyre. After a long and slow trip back to the pits, the car re-emerged with Christopher Mies at the wheel, now in 14th place and two laps off the lead. At the front of the field meanwhile, a Code 60 delay for Schiller allowed Gounon in the #3 to make up 13 seconds on the #80 in the battle for P1. The car was handed to Lucas Auer at the next stop, with Schiller staying on board the #80.
With 99 laps complete, it was Gounon 24 seconds up on Schiller, Thiim third, Harper fourth, Ugo de Wilde fifth in the BMW Touring, Engstler sixth in the #84 Lamborghini (below) and Heinrich seventh in the #24 Lionspeed Porsche. Thiim pitted after a strong stint that saw him claw back a minute of lost time, handing the car back to Christian Krognes. Krognes subsequently came under pressure from Harper’s BMW in a battle that saw him pinged for passing a lapped car under waved yellows.
Both Mercedes were in the pits together shortly before 8:00am local time. Getting out of the leading #3 machine, Fabian Schiller reported: “Everything is going according to plan, we have two Mercedes at the front. In most cases, you’re only looking out for yourself, but of course this is cool. We decided early on not to get into battles for position. We’ve kind of frozen it now, so we’re not fighting each other. The goal for Mercedes is to win here again after 10 years.”
Approaching 9:00am, Patrick Niederhauser continued to demonstrate the pace of the polesitting #84 Abt Lamborghini, setting a new fastest lap of the race, an 8:10.034 as he circulated in fifth place overall, a lap down on the top four.
Images courtesy of Frozenspeed
