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As afternoon turned to evening, and the sun set over the circuit, it seemed like status quo was being preserved.. Manthey Porsche out in front, everyone else trying to keep up...

With this, I turned my focus to the other classes, where the racing was no less fierce... Regulation changes are forcing out all cars with a sub-two litre engine, and also any cars from pre 1999 - although there was a bye for this year only - allowing the Manta, Golf3's and E36s to run for one more year.

In V2, after 4 hours, car 205 - an E36 318is was leading, one lap clear of the rest of their field, but already 7 laps behind the Manthey car.




In D1T - the car 179 - a E90 320d, was leading until taking the kerbs on the inside on the approach the Schwedenkreuz, which launched the car, and bounced it off the barriers on the outside... seen here moments before impact.. thankfully the race wasn't over, but a severe set back ensued.




Trouble also struck for Lotus - the factory entered Exige caught fire, forcing the driver to drive the car into the barriers to shed speed near Schwedenkreuz , and then jump out of the car whilst it was still rolling.

The Marshalls put the fire out, but the car was finished - seen here whilst being recovered back to the pits.