#0735 "Die Nacht am Ring"

24H of Nürburgring 2018

#912

Nürburgring 24-hour race 2018: After qualifying in the top 30, Manthey-Racing qualified the Porsche 911 GT3 R with the #911, the "Grello", in first place and the #912 in sixth place. The #912 had a tire problem right on the first lap and had to come into the pits. At the same time, the #911 gained an increasing lead over the rest of the field. At around 1:30 a.m. the leading #911 received a time penalty of 3:32 minutes for speeding in a “Code 60” speed-restricted zone. In addition, Romain Dumas crashed in the #912 area in the Schwalbenschwanz area on this lap, but after a hard fight through the field, he was able to work his way up to first place. In the early morning, however, Nick Tandy caused a stir again when the #912 spun in the Hatzenbach area. Shortly after 10 a.m., the #912 also received a time penalty of 3:32 minutes, also due to a Code 60 offence. When the race was stopped at around 12 p.m. due to heavy rain, the #912 was in second place behind the #4 AMG GT3. The restart at 2 p.m. brought all vehicles close together again. The gap between the #912 and the #4 AMG GT3 from the Black Falcon team was only a few seconds. In an extraordinary rain battle, Frédéric Makowiecki at the wheel of the #912 was able to push past the Mercedes in the Yokohama-S at the end of the start-finish straight, whereupon the #4 spun after a small contact. The #912 kept the gap to the Mercedes and the winners of the 2018 24-hour race were set: Richard Lietz, Patrick Pilet, Frédéric Makowiecki and Nick Tandy in a Porsche 911 GT3 R.