The setbacks suffered by the other Audi squads showed how treacherous the conditions were. Following the interruption of the race in the early stage due to heavy rain and hail, Alex Yoong (MAL), with the Audi race experience, had an accident at night in slightly foggy conditions. In the early morning hours, misfortune struck last year’s winner Nico Müller (CH) from Audi Sport Team WRT. He had to evade a rival standing in the opposite direction of traffic and touched the guard rail. The subsequent repair took three hours. Only three laps later, there was a misunderstanding when two-time winner Markus Winkelhock (D) from Audi Sport Team Phoenix hit the Audi of Connor De Phillippi (USA) from Team Montaplast by Land-Motorsport. Both cars could not be repaired anymore. An incident of contact between a rival and experienced campaigner Frank Stippler (D) in the number “5” Audi deprived Phoenix Racing of a top-6 result shortly before the end of the race.
Two all-privateer driver teams were happy about their positions in the top 20. Christian Bollrath/Maximilian Hackländer/Ralf Oeverhaus/Micke Ohlsson (D/D/D/S) achieved 14th place with the Audi race experience. Team Car Collection Motorsport was on the Nürburgring grid with Audi for the first time and, with Ronnie Saurenmann/Peter Schmidt/Andreas Ziegler (D/D/D), advanced to position 18.
– End –
Race results
1 Christodoulou/Engel/Metzger/Schneider (Mercedes), 134 laps
2 Hohenadel/Seefried/Vietoris/van der Zande (Mercedes) +5.697s
3 Alzen/Arnold/Götz/Seyffarth (Mercedes) –1 lap
4 Buurman/Engel/Haupt/Müller (Mercedes) –1 lap
5 Eng/Martin/Sims/Werner (BMW) –1 lap
6 Asch/Heyer/Keilwitz/Ludwig (Mercedes) –3 laps
7 Brück/Hamprecht/Menzel/Smith (Bentley) –3 laps
8 Frijns/Leonard/Sandström/Vervisch (Audi R8 LMS) –4 laps
9 Dumbreck/Henzler/Imperatori/Ragginger (Porsche) –4 laps
10 Busch/Busch/Mamerow/Rast (Audi R8 LMS) –4 laps
14 Bollrath/Hackländer/Oeverhaus/Ohlsson (Audi R8 LMS) –9 laps
18 Saurenmann/Schmidt/Ziegler (Audi R8 LMS) –11 laps
46 Kaffer/Mies/Müller/Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS) –25 laps