Makowiecki, Pilet and Porsche win the 24 Hours of Nürburgring

They will have had everything, big, beautiful sunshine yesterday then rain and fog today. So much so that this morning, the race was interrupted due to lack of visibility. Then at the restart, less than two hours from the end, the duel between the Porsche 911 RSR n°912 and the Mercedes AMG GT3 n°4 of Maro Engel-Adam Christodoulou-Manuel Metzger-Dirk Müller got back on track. Despite terrible weather conditions, Frédéric Makowiecki took the lead over Adam Christodoulou at the first corner. The two cars made contact twice, with the Briton insisting to the point of spinning. A few minutes later, he hit the rail again, fortunately without damage.

Then Fred Mako, very lively, repelled the attacks of his rival before building an increasingly comfortable lead and passing, as the winner, under the checkered flag. However, the association he formed with his compatriot Patrick Pilet, the Austrian Richard Lietz and the Briton Nick Tandy was not polished, since she suffered a puncture on the first lap then suffered this morning of a stop & go of 3'32 for non-compliance with code 60. But everyone rose to the occasion.

Fred Mako, Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz put their name on the race list for the first time. Manthey Racing signs its sixth success, the first since 2011. Note that just over a month from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first three named are on good momentum since they have already won the 12 Hours of Sebring in GTLM in mid-March.

For a long time, victory was promised to the sister car, the No. 911 911 RSR of Romain Dumas-Kévin Estre-Laurens Vanthoor-Earl Bamber, which started from pole position and quickly took off from the competition. But during the night, after overtaking a latecomer, the unfortunate Alésien found himself a passenger in his mount, on a track strewn with sand intended to absorb traces of oil left on the tarmac. The kind of mishap that can only happen at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring, a race with its own codes.

Another accident to note, that of Dries Vanthoor in an Audi R8 LMS of Team WRT. After slipping between two cars driving at a reduced pace, not to say slow, the Belgian went off to finish his race on the rails.

Once again, the Nordschleife proved to deserve its nickname of green hell. And in these conditions, the magic of the wizard Olaf Manthey, aka the Wizard of the Ring, has struck again.