SUMMARY: The 2015 Nurburgring 24 Hours was finely poised heading into the final four hours, with about 90 seconds separating the #28 WRT Audi and #25 Marc VDS BMW and the lead being exchanged with each round of pitstops. The top 10 order remained largely static.
Shortly after 9am, Christoph Brueck in the ninth-place #11 HTP Bentley (above) reported: “It’s been a tough and debilitating race. The hardest was the night stint, that was brutal. I don’t we’ll make up more positions. We’ll just try to keep the car on the track.” Elsewhere, the #114 Subaru WRX STI continued its very impressive run at the head of the SP3T class and the fringes of the overall top 20, completing its 100th lap at 9:15am.
At the front of the field, the #28 WRT Audi set a new fastest lap of the race (an 8:19.728) at around 9:45am with Vanthoor at the wheel. It held the advantage at this point, as it was continuing to manage nine-lap stints versus the Marc VDS BMW’s eight. “We’re trying everything to win. We push hard to win against the BMW,” said Vanthoor after his stint.
Almost an hour later, after a double stint for Lucas Luhr, the BMW had a brake-disc change during its stop, with Richard Westbrook taking over at the wheel. At about 11am, RJN Nissan boss Bob Neville confirmed that all yellow-flag zones had been lifted, allowing for fast laps again.
There were two minor scares for the leading #28 Audi before midday: a spin on the Grand Prix loop for Nico Mueller and later a small flash fire in the pits that led to the car driving out doused with extinguisher fluid.
The third-place Falken Porsche confirmed it wouldn’t need to make a splash-and-dash fuel stop before the end, with full stint lengths forecast. Approaching midday, the Marc VDS BMW’s strategy called for it to make one more stop than the WRT Audi, but with the ever-present possibility of more yellow-flag stints could give it a chance to save fuel and eke out the necessary distance.
