Nurburgring 24 Hours 2011

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Porsche Takes Top Honors At Nurburgring 24 Hours Race

Porsche has done it again, managing to win its fifth Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race in six years. This past weekend’s race, in particular, was one of the most exciting and dramatic 24 hour races at the Nurburgring, but in the end there could be only one clear winner: Porsche together with Porsche Team Manthey.

In front of 220,000 spectators lining the legendary Nurburgring-Nordschleife race track in Germany, Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany), Timo Bernhard (Germany), Romain Dumas (France) as well as Lucas Luhr (Switzerland) won the 39th running of the long distance classic in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR race car.

The team managed to snatch the lead on Saturday at 11:25pm and held on to it to the checkered flag more than 16 hours later. Additionally, a new distance record was set with a total of 156 laps and some 2,460 miles covered in the 24 hour race period.

The orange and white Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid also gave an impressive performance, though it only managed to finish in 28th position thanks partially to a damaged flange and later, a nudge from another driver that sent the car into a spin.

Interestingly, BMW didn’t manage to repeat its success last year at the Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race, though came close, with its M3 GT piloted by previous winners Augusto Farfus (Brazil), Jörg Müller (Germany), Uwe Alzen (Germany) and Pedro Lamy (Portugal) coming in second.

Rounding out the top three was Audi with its number 14 R8 LMS piloted by Marc Basseng (Germany), Marcel Fässler (Switzerland), Andrea Piccini (Italy) and Frank Stippler (Germany).

Aston Martin’s two new V12 Zagato concept cars all successfully complete the endurance test. The number 5 car, the green ‘Zig’, finished 5th in the SP8 class for near-standard cars with naturally aspirated engines above 4.0-liters of displacement, while its the number 3 car in red, 'Zag', finished 6th.

Below is a list of the top ten placings for the 2011 Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race:

1 Lieb/Bernhard/Dumas/Luhr (D/D/F/CH), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 156 laps
2 Müller/Farfus/Alzen/Lamy (D/BRA/D/P), BMW M3 GT, +4:23.7 seconds
3 Basseng/Fässler/Piccini/Stippler (D/CH/I/D), Audi R8 LMS, - 1 lap
4 Stippler/Hennerici/Haase/Winkelhock (D/D/D/D), Audi R8 LMS, - 1
5 Ekström/Scheider/Werner/Abt (S/D/D/D), Audi R8 LMS, - 2
6 Heyer/Jäger/Bleekemolen/Seyffarth (D/D/NL/D), Mercedes-Benz SLS, - 3
7 Arnold/Margaritis/Brück/Frankenhout (D/D/D/NL), Mercedes-Benz SLS, - 3
8 Farnbacher/Simonsen/Seefried/Melo (D/MC/D/I), Ferrari F 458, - 4
9 Abbelen/Schmitz/Kentenich/T. Bergmeister (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, - 4
10 Weiss/Kainz/Jacobs/Krumbach (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, - 5

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