Audi wiped out all competition in what was the 40th edition of the most important endurance race held in Germany, the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring.
It was 24 hours at a dizzying pace, but not even the adverse weather conditions prevented Audi from triumphing in this mythical German race. Although new, the Audi R8 LMS ultra behaved like a gentleman and led the German quartet (Marc Basseng, Christopher Haase, Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock) to complete the 24 hours in just 155 laps.
Audi Sport Team Phoenix (the winning team) saw their Team Mamerow Racing teammates, also with an Audi R8, cut the line just 3 minutes later, which proves, once again, that Audi has been developing in the last years an excellent job with regard to motor competition. It should be remembered that in June 2011 the brand celebrated its 10th victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the R18 TDI LMP and in July it triumphed at the 24 hour classics at SpaFrancorchamps for the first time.
Also noteworthy is the 9th place conquered by the Portuguese driver, Pedro Lamy.
Final classification:
1. Basseng/Haase/Stippler/Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS ultra), 155 laps
2. Abt/Ammermüller/Hahne/Mamerow (Audi R8 LMS ultra), at 3m 35.303s
3. Frankenhout/Simonsen/Kaffer/Arnold (Mercedes-Benz), at 11m 31.116s
4. Leinders/Palttala/Martin (BMW), 1 lap
5. Fässler/Mies/Rast/Stippler (Audi R8 LMS ultra), 4 laps
6. Abbelen/Schmitz/Brück/Huisman (Porsche), 4 laps
7. Müller/Müller/Alzen/Adorf (BMW), 5 laps
8. Hürtgen/Schwager/Bastian/Adorf (BMW), 5 laps
9. Klingmann/Wittmann/Göransson/Lamy (BMW), 5 laps
10. Zehe/Hartung/Rehfeld/Bullitt (Mercedes-Benz), 5 laps
Text: Tiago Luís