Black Falcon‘s #9 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 emerged as the 24 Hours of Nurburgring victor this afternoon after a chaotic race that saw a 9-hour red flag due to heavy rain and fog.
The race started with the pole-snatching #4 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS keeping its lead through the first hour, but that was about to change when the #7 Vantage GT3 of Aston Martin Racing managed to overtake the Audi during the third hour.
When heavy rain started falling in hour 4, the #25 Marc VDS BMW Z4 took advantage of the situation and jumped into the lead before the race came to a halt shortly prior to the sixth hour.
Once the action resumed after a lengthy 9-hour red flag, the #25 BMW piloted by Maxime Martin looked quickest around the track; nevertheless, the team lost time to the #23 ROWE Racing Mercedes in the pits and dropped back to second, they were followed by the #22 ROWE Racing Mercedes in third.
During the closing stages of the race, the #9 Black Falcon Mercedes moved into the race lead as both them and the #23 ROWE Mercedes made stops on different laps; The Black Falcon team maintained their lead thereafter to clinch a surprising victory, thus handing Mercedes their first ever triumph at the grueling event.
The extremely quick #25 BMW Z4 of BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS overtook the two ROWE Racing Mercedes to eventually finish in second place after a series of blistering laps in the dying moments of the race; third place went to the #22 ROWE Racing Mercedes ahead of its sister #23 car – this gave Mercedes three top 4 finishing positions.
G-Drive Racing by Phoenix’s #1 Audi R8 crossed the finish line in fifth ahead of the #20 BMW Team Schubert which managed to keep up with the leaders throughout the race to finish in a solid sixth place.
The best-placed Porsche was Manthey Racing’s #18 911 GT3 RSR which ended up seventh overall, a lap down on the winning Mercedes.
Full results in the link.
