Audi R8 over taking Porsche 911 GT3 R at the first corner


With the 24 Heures du Mans at the circuit de la Sarthe starting today, F1 qualifying at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, MotoGP qualifying at Silverstone, you may be forgiven for thinking that that's enough motorsport for one day.

You would be mistaken though! - With 2 weeks until the ADAC 24 hour at the Nürburgring, it was the last opportunity for preparation and testing on the Eifel circuit before hand, and also an opportunity for success for some smaller teams, due to the factory teams sitting out this round, due to driver/team commitments at Le Mans.

With this, the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Eifel favourite Sabine Schmitz / Klaus Abbelen secured pole, with a time of 8m20s, just ahead of the Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS of of Mattias Ekström/Timo Schieder / Frank Stippler.



However at the first corner, Ekström took the lead and pulled away throughout his stint - being 20 seconds ahead after 5 laps, and this was a pattern which continued throughout the race, no matter who was driving.

Also running were Aston Martin with their V12 Zagato, hoping for better success than the last race, where they didn't make it past the first two laps.


This time it did, with both cars making it to the finish - securing P2 and P3 in the SP8 class, admittedly out of only 4 runners.

The race was ended early, under red flag, due to the onset of heavy rain at 15:52 CEST.


With Phoenix Racing's R8 LMS winning overall, this means so far in 2011, in 5 VLN races, there have been 5 winners... with BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari and Porsche sharing the honours thus far.

All is set for it to continue to build up as an exciting season!


Top 10 finishers:


Pl. Nr. Kl. Sponsor
Bewerber
Fahrer, Ort
Fahrzeug
Lizenznummer
Rd. Gesamtzeit
Schnitt
Rückstand
Intervall
Schnellste
Schnitt
in
Rd.
124SP9 B PHOENIX RACING
F Ekström Mattias, Schweden
F Scheider Timo, Kempten i.A.
F Stippler Frank, Bad Münstereifel
Audi R8 LMS
S197807147199
A1670
IB1039089

243:30:49.154
166.452

8:24.575
173.866
17
230SP9 S MSC Adenau e.V. im ADAC
F Abbelen Klaus, Barweiler
F Schmitz Sabine, Barweiler
Porsche 911 GT3 R
IC1049933
IC1051485

243:32:21.108
165.251
1:31.954
1:31.954
8:27.913
172.723
1
380CUP2 B Manthey Racing
F Kohler Wolfgang, Aldingen
F Kräling Frank, Winterberg
F Menzel Christian, Kelberg
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 997
IC1107982
IC1054618
IC1061155

243:36:07.563
162.365
5:18.409
3:46.455
8:32.316
171.239
17
491CUP2 B Verva Racing Team
F Rosina Stefan, Slowakei
F Giermaziak Jakub, Polen
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 997
SK167
PL00611

243:37:14.344
161.533
6:25.190
1:06.781
8:36.199
169.951
21
5111SP8 B Gazoo Racing
F Iida Akira, Japan
F Oshima Kazuya, Japan
F Ishiura Hiroaki, Japan
Lexus LF-A
J133989200220
J859818930520
J835349570920

243:37:46.216
161.139
6:57.062
31.872
8:34.416
170.540
7
684CUP2a B Schnabl Engineering GmbH & Co. KG
F Ragginger Martin, Österreich
F Wendt Stefan, Papenburg
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 997
A1050
IC1067626

233:31:08.597
159.272
1 Runde
1 Runde
8:36.520
169.845
2
7108CUP2

F Engelhart Christian, Kösching
F Lauda Mathias, Österreich
F Mayerl Andreas, Österreich
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 997
IC1075458
A1118
A1183

233:32:17.538
158.410
1 Runde
1:08.941
8:35.769
170.092
22
876CUP2 B Rheydter Club für Motorsport
F Otto Jörg, Grevenbroich
F Becker Peter, Grevenbroich
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 997
IC1049377
IC1049073

233:32:24.692
158.321
1 Runde
07.154
8:53.253
164.516
2
9301SP3T B LMS Engineering
F Rosenberg Maik, Attendorn
F Krognes Christian, Norwegen
F Akata Emin, Friedrichshafen
VW Scirocco
IC1113893
N31791
IC1098107

233:33:36.499
157.434
1 Runde
1:11.807
8:51.334
165.110
23
1090CUP2

F Neuffer Philipp, Stuttgart
F Huber Reinhard, Albaching
F Babini Merlo Carlo, Schweiz
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 997
IC1134102
IC1046869
CH1407
233:33:58.097
157.169
1 Runde
21.598
8:44.771
167.175
17

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