Second-Placed Manthey Porsche Crashes Out of N24

Photo: Nurburgring 24 Hours

The Manthey ‘Grello’ Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Kevin Estre that had been closing on the lead of the Nürburgring 24 crashed out in the fourth hour of the race, shortly before Arjun Maini had a sizeable shunt at the same Brunnchen corner.

Following the third round of stops, Estre had narrowed a 20-second lead for the No. 80 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo down to just 6.7 seconds.

The No. 911 Porsche had earlier effectively been the race leader and Estre was flying up towards Jules Gounon aboard the Mercedes-AMG when he lost the rear of the car at Brunnchen and spun into the barriers backwards after oil had been laid down at that part of the track.

Estre was unable to continue and his car had to be retrieved by a recovery vehicle and returned to the pits.

The Manthey team later confirmed that the damage was too great for the car, which finished second in last year’s race, to be able to continue.

Moments later, Maini lost control of his No. 64 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 EVO that had been running in eighth place on the same oil and had an even bigger impact at the same corner, but the Indian was able to walk away from the incident.

There was better news for the sister No. 67 Mustang that grabbed the lead around the outside of Tiergarten shortly before the end of the fourth hour with Dennis Olsen at the wheel.

Gounon, who had taken over from a charging Max Verstappen aboard the Winward-run Mercedes-AMG, was struggling in the tricky conditions and slipped back to second, while the No. 34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Christian Krognes was third.

The demise of the No. 911 and No. 64 crews meant six of the 41-strong leading SP9 class were already out of the race with just four hours completed.

Source: Sports Car 365