After the end of the night, two Porsche 911 GT3 R cars will continue to maintain contact with the front runners at the 24-hour highlight at the Nürburgring. Rutronik Racing is in fifth place at the start of the 17th hour of the race with the nine-eleven of Dennis Olsen, Matteo Cairoli, and Julien Andlauer. Falken Motorsports occupies eighth position with the GT3 car of Nico Menzel, Tim Heinemann, Joel Eriksson and Martin Ragginger. Both cars are still on the same lap as the leader.

Numerous incidents marked the cool but dry night over the Nürburgring. At daybreak, three of the seven 911 GT3 R cars fielded by the Porsche customer teams still had a chance of finishing at the front. In addition to the cars from Rutronik Racing and Falken Motorsports, the nine-eleven from Huber Motorsport was also in the top 15. At the wheel of the No. 25 car are works driver Romain Dumas from France, the two Germans Lars Kern and Dennis Fetzer and the Frenchman Côme Ledogar.

Even in the early stages, however, the high pace of the race on the 25.378-kilometre combination of the historic Nordschleife and the original layout of the Grand Prix circuit had taken its toll. First of all, Manthey EMA had to accept a setback with the so-called "Grello". Frenchman Kévin Estre had regained eighth place after an impressive comeback from 20th on the grid when he slid into the tyre stacks at the end of his second stint due to a puncture. However, after the repair was completed, the team was unable to solve the problems that recurred on the left rear wheel. At 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, Manthey EMA withdrew the car of Estre and fellow factory drivers Michael Christensen (Denmark), Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and Thomas Preining (Austria) for safety reasons. The number 24 of Lionspeed by Car Collection was already out of the race at that time. After a slip by Matt Campbell and a lengthy repair, the team had given up after a good two and a half hours.

In the first third of the race, the No. 44 Porsche from Falken Motorsports defended its role as the best-placed Porsche. The 911 GT3 R driven by Austrian Martin Ragginger, Joel Eriksson (Sweden) and the two Germans Nico Menzel and Tim Heinemann temporarily took third place. Bad luck befell the quartet around midnight: During a lapping manoeuvre in the airfield section, Heinemann slid into the tyre stacks. Including the pit stop, the GT3 race car initially dropped to 14th place behind its No. 33 sister car. At eight o'clock in the morning, he was in eighth place.

At around 3:30 a.m., the Falken-Porsche of Sven Müller (Germany), Klaus Bachler (Austria) and the Belgian Alessio Picariello was also hit: When passing a slower vehicle, there was also a contact with subsequent contact with the crash barrier. After repairs, the team went back on track, but 90 minutes later the team finally called the race car into the pits. For the No. 54 Dinamic GT Porsche, the race ended at 4:45 a.m. after a violent collision in the Bellof-S area. Driver Laurin Heinrich was able to leave the medical center after a routine check.

"We had already lost four out of seven cars before the last third of the race," Sebastian Golz sums up. The Porsche 911 GT3 R project manager adds: "We are still shocked by the accident of the Dinamic GT car with the Dacia. We are very happy that our driver Laurin Heinrich and the driver of the Dacia are doing well so far. Now we are concentrating on the three remaining nine-elevens in the competition. The Porsches from Rutronik Racing, Falken and Huber are doing well in the current phase of the race. We have to wait and seehow performance evolves with increasing temperatures. Hopefully we can fight for a top 5 result."

Nico Menzel (Porsche 911 GT3 R #44): "I drove a double stint from night into day. There was a lot going on on the track and risk management was not always easy: those who took the risk were able to make up a lot of time – or even knock the car away. We were at our limit and within the top 10, which is a realistic position for us. Cool temperatures suit us better. When it gets warmer, we have to keep the rear tyres alive. All in all, we managed the Porsche quite well over the distance. Tim briefly hit a curb during the night while lapping, lost the car and made a 360-degree spin. This also resulted in a slight crash barrier contact, which unfortunately caused a puncture. But the repair only took us 3.5 to four minutes, the guys did a great job. We're going all-in now. Maybe we can still get a top 5 result."

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 911 GT3 R #96): "Overall, I'm pretty happy because we got through the night well – the car is in one piece, we don't have any damage. The cooler temperatures were in line with our set-up philosophy and improved our competitiveness. If it gets warmer again, we will probably have to suffer from it. The Porsche drives as if on rails, which boosts our self-confidence at the wheel. The engineers made the right decisions and our mechanics did a great job during the pit stops. Everything is going according to plan so far. Only on the straights is there a lack of top speed to be able to fight further ahead. We're in the top 5 at the moment, maybe we can catch up one or two positions."

Lars Kern (Porsche 911 GT3 R #25): "The night stints were quite ok. We chose the softer tyre compound, which made the car feel better to me. So far everything is fine, only at the beginning we needed something to find our direction and the right air pressure."

All results can be found at: https://www.24h-rennen.de/ergebnisse/

Interim Report 1, Nürburgring 24 Hours, Nürburgring-Nordschleife (Germany)

Falken Motorsports' Porsche 911 GT3 R holds its own among the leaders

The Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by the Falken Motorsports customer team held its own in the leading group in the opening phase of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. The No. 44 car of the experienced customer team is in eighth position after the first three hours in the "Green Hell". As the second-best nine-eleven, the No. 96 model from Rutronik Racing shows a consistent race to catch up without much risk. Meanwhile, Manthey EMA and Lionspeed by Car Collection were very unlucky: both teams were involved in incidents early on and suffered considerable damage.

With only light clouds and temperatures of around 15 degrees Celsius, the number 44 of Falken Motorsports made a strong start to the competition with a total of over 130 cars. Nico Menzel handed over the Porsche 911 GT3 R to youngster Tim Heinemann after starting from sixth place in fifth position. The German showed a squeaky clean performance at the wheel of the approximately 415 kW (565 hp) nine-eleven and even improved to third place at times. After two more pit stops, the car finished eighth after three hours.

While the sister car of Falken Motorsports (number 33) occupies 23rd place due to a defect in the rear after contact in lapping traffic, the GT3 car from Rutronik Racing is on the rise. Initially, the Norwegian Dennis Olsen made up a few positions, currently the Italian Matteo Cairoli in 17th place keeps in touch with the top 10 in the race. The two nine-elevens of Dinamic GT and Huber Motorsport are in 19th and 21st place. In the first two hours, works driver Kévin Estre put on a great show at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Manthey EMA.

In inimitable fashion, the Frenchman manoeuvred the crowd favourite known as "Grello" from 20th to eighth place. However, shortly before the end of his second stint, Estre slid into the barriers due to a puncture in the Tiergarten area. The necessary repairs to the rear threw the team back by almost two laps. The starting number 24 of Lionspeed by Car Collection is already completely out of the race. At the end of his first stint, Australian Matt Campbell hit the grass at the end of the Ex-Mühle section of the track and spun into the tyre stacks. After a lengthy repair, the team sent the nine-eleven back onto the track, but finally had to retire after about two and a half hours.

"After just two hours, two of our top cars were already out of the battle for victory," Sebastian Golz sums up. Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R adds: "Matt Campbell went too far off the track in the early stages and spun into the tyre stacks, Kévin Estre flew into the barriers after a puncture shortly before the end of his stint. It's a shame because Manthey EMA had great pace and strategy. Now we have to keep our fingers crossed that we are spared further incidents and that we finish the remaining hours cleanly with the remaining cars. Let's see what comes out of it."

Tim Heinemann (Porsche 911 GT3 R #44): "I had a lot of space around me. Directly in front of me and behind me there were no direct competitors. So I didn't have a reference in terms of my lap times. Every now and then there was bad luck in heavy traffic – all hell breaks loose in the 'Green Hell'. Our car does not have a single scratch. We're still doing well – that's the most important thing."

Kévin Estre (Porsche 911 GT3 R #911): "We started from far behind, but had a strong pace and a good strategy in the early stages. I was very well on the rise, but got stuck behind a Ferrari for a long time. On the last lap of my second stint, a tyre flattened when braking into the last corner.Zt. It looks like a piece of debris caused a cut. I couldn't react anymore and hit it. There was extensive damage to our car. Unfortunately, we're already out of the fight for victory."

Patrick Kolb (Porsche 911 GT3 R #24): "Our start wasn't particularly good. We fell behind at first, but then fought our way back. Apparently there was a misunderstanding between my colleague Matt and the driver of a slower car during a lapp. Something like this happens a lot on the Nordschleife, mainly due to the many different vehicle classes. That's why we love and hate this race in equal measure."