24h Spa (16h): Two Audi teams shape the race
Two Audi R8 LMS set the pace at the front after sunrise. Until the 16th hour, the #40 from Audi Sport Tresor Orange1 with Dennis Marschall was in front. Close behind followed Nicki Thiim in the #17 for Team Scherer Sport PHX, who took the lead at the two-thirds mark. With the #11 Audi of Christopher Haase from Audi Sport Team Comtoyou, another R8 LMS was among the top eight. Nicolas Baert of Comtoyou Racing in the #21 was third in the gold classification at this point. Alex Aka in Tresor Orange1’s #99 maintained the lead in the Silver classification ahead of Lucas Légeret in Comtoyou Racing’s #12. In third place in the Pro-Am standings was Arthur Rougier in the #888 of CSA Racing.
Audi in third row at Spa
Audi Sport driver Ricardo Feller managed the sixth-best time in Super Pole qualifying with the #66 Audi R8 LMS. Five different brands qualified for the top six positions. The second-fastest Audi R8 LMS in the field came from Scherer Sport PHX. Kelvin van der Linde set the ninth fastest time. Also starting from the fifth row of the grid is Aurélien Panis with car number 9. The Frenchman was second-best driver in the Gold category for Boutsen VDS and tenth overall. 94 thousandths of a second behind followed another customer in an Audi: Lucas Légeret in car number 12 did the eleventh-fastest lap as the second-best Silver driver for Comtoyou Racing. Audi Sport driver Frédéric Vervisch classified two positions behind with Audi Sport Team Comtoyou. Even before the single-lap qualifying of the top 20, the teams of eight other Audi R8 LMS cars knew their grid positions on Thursday: Boutsen VDS (#10) finished 24th, Audi Sport Team Saintéloc (#25) 29th, Comtoyou Racing (#21) 32nd. Tresor Attempto Racing (#66) starts from position 36, Tresor Orange1 (#99) from position 49, CSA Racing (#888) follows two places behind. The Saintéloc Junior Team (#26) has secured 56th place, the Uno Racing Team (#61) starts the race from position 61.
24h Spa (12h): Audi in front at the halfway mark
Twelve of the 13 Audi R8 LMS cars that started were still in contention. Only the #10 of Boutsen VDS has not been repaired following an accident with the #2 car in the eighth hour of racing.
24h Spa (4h): Audi drives to the front at the beginning
Kelvin van der Linde had advanced from ninth to second position for Team Scherer Sport PHX in the #17 car, so that the Audi R8 LMS held a 1-2 lead at times in the third hour of racing. Van der Linde’s teammate Nicki Thiim took the lead after the driver change, while Drudi’s Audi Sport teammate Dennis Marschall held fourth place. Aurélien Panis led the Gold classification in the #9 car of Boutsen VDS, while Loris Hezemans held third in the Silver category for Comtoyou Racing in the #12. The third-best Pro-Am driver pairing also relied on an Audi: Erwin Creed drove CSA Racing’s #888 car.
24h Spa (8h): Audi in the lead
In the seventh hour, Kelvin van der Linde in the #17 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS had moved to the front of the field, but after a scheduled pit stop, the South African dropped back to eighth place. Adam Eteki led the Gold classification in the #9 Audi of Team Boutsen VDS after the first third of the race. The best team in the Silver category also relied on an Audi: Alex Aka in the #99 of Tresor Attempto Racing, Lucas Légeret of Comtoyou Racing was in third place in the #12 Audi. Arthur Rougier in CSA Racing's #888 was in second place in the Pro-Am Cup after eight hours.
24h Nürburgring (8h): Many changes of position at nightfall
Patric Niederhauser in the Audi Sport Team Land R8 LMS is the best Audi driver in sixth place. With Audi Sport Team Car Collection (#22) and Luca Engstler, another Audi R8 LMS is among the top 10. Ricardo Feller defended the second position for a long time in the #1 Audi R8 of Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX, but due to a time penalty of 4.36 minutes, the team dropped back to 17th place just before midnight. Behind them follow the R8 of Scherer Sport PHX (#5), which had lost time earlier in the evening due to a puncture, Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX (#40) and Scherer Sport PHX (#16) in 18th to 20th place.
24h Nürburgring (12h): Audi Sport Team Land in tenth place
Christopher Haase, who had taken over the Audi Sport Team Land R8 LMS from Christopher Mies, was in tenth place after 79 laps. The remaining five Audi R8 LMS cars were spread across positions 13 to 18. Frédéric Vervisch was 13th in the #1 car for Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX, followed by Frank Stippler (#5) from Team Scherer Sport PHX and Max Hofer (#22) from Audi Sport Team Car Collection. Mike Rockenfeller (#40) from Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX in 17th position and Michele Beretta (#16) from Scherer Sport PHX one place behind complete the results. This means that all six R8 LMS cars that started are still in the race.
24h Nürburgring (16h): Patric Niederhauser seventh
Audi Sport driver Patric Niederhauser was seventh in the R8 LMS (#39) on the same lap as the leader. The second-best Audi in the field is piloted by four juniors from Audi Sport customer racing. Dennis Marschall (#22) in the R8 LMS of Audi Sport Team Car Collection with his teammates moved up to tenth place. Markus Winkelhock for Team Scherer Sport PHX (#16) followed behind. The three DTM Champions Mike Rockenfeller, Timo Scheider and Martin Tomczyk were in 12th position after 16 hours of racing. Two other R8 LMS cars are no longer racing. Shortly after the halfway point, two accidents occurred within seconds of each other. Frédéric Vervisch in the number 1 Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX and Frank Stippler in the number 5 Scherer Sport PHX had no chance when they hit oil on the track. Both race cars slid into the barrier in turn 3 on the Grand Prix circuit on lap 81. They retired due to the accident damage.