Porsche customer teams maintain contact to the top as night falls

The 911 GT3 R fielded by Porsche’s customer team Manthey EMA is leading the field after the opening phase of the Nürburgring 24-hour race. At nightfall, the car is still in a promising position. The same applies to the two Porsche fielded by Falken Motorsports running in tenth and twelfth place as well as the identical model campaigned by Dinamic GT on P13. Herberth Motorsport and Lionspeed GP currently hold positions 17 and 20.

The long-distance classic took off under tricky conditions, with rain setting in during the warm-up lap on the 25.378-kilometre combination of the shortened Grand Prix circuit and the historic Nordschleife. Manthey EMA’s Porsche shared by start driver Kévin Estre, the Austrian Thomas Preining, Ayhancan Güven from Turkey and Belgium’s Vanthoor was already fitted with rain tyres. The car promptly advanced into first place after the leading BMW pulled back into the pits to change tyres. Facing changeable conditions, the French works driver managed to defend his lead position until the first pit stop so that "Grello" could switch to slicks again for the now dry track.

Herberth Motorsport’s 911, which also produces about 416 kW (565 PS), was running in fifth place for a long stretch. After becoming entangled in a collision caused by another competitor which included contact with the guard rail at the end of “Döttinger Höhe”, the race car driven by German Vincent Kolb, the Norwegian Dennis Olsen, the Australian works driver Matt Campbell and Robert Renauer (Germany) made a brief stop in the pits for a quick check. By 8 pm local time, the No. 5 car was in 20th place.

“We found the right answers to the mixed conditions in the early stages of the race. All teams made good tyre choices, which brought us forward,” explains Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R. “To minimise risk, the Manthey EMA Porsche delayed changing from rain tyres to slicks until the track had completely dried. It’s now starting to rain again. We need to focus on getting through the night safely so that we can attack as early as possible tomorrow morning.”

Comments after the first four hours of racing
Kévin Estre (F, Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911): “The start wasn’t easy. We made the right decision to opt for rain tyres and so did Augusto Farfus in the BMW, but there are different designs so that’s why I was faster in some sections of the track, and Augusto in others. I made the most of a lapping opportunity in the ‘Adenauer Forst' and overtook without taking too much of a risk. We were possibly a lap too late switching to slicks at the end of the first stint. We didn’t want to risk anything, so we played it safe. That cost us a bit of time, but in the end, everything worked out fine. We can’t quite match the top pace of the BMW on dry tyres – they’re very fast on the straights, but we’re giving it our best and the race is still long.”

Nico Menzel (D, Falken Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R #44): “Opting for the right tyres at the start was tricky but luckily we succeeded more or less – we started on wets and managed to hold our own in the midfield. We swapped to slicks at the right time and seem to be doing everything right so far. We’re running in the top 10 so everything’s okay.”

Dennis Olsen (N, Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R #5): “I had great fun during the first stint. It was difficult starting on rain tyres at the start when the track was still too dry, but I think we made the right decision. We managed to stay out on the track until the window opened for refuelling – that’s when we swapped to slicks. It was again the right decision at that point because we made up a lot of time. We’re still in the game and are doing our best.”

Full results:
https://www.24h-rennen.de/en/live-en/