Written by Owen Bradley
The #163 Lamborghini won the GT World Challenge Endurance round at the Nurburgring, defending from the Mercedes #48 and #22 Porsche all race long, in a race with multiple crashes.
The 3 Hour Endurance race around the Nurburgring circuit started in chaotic fashion, an aborted start due to a couple of cars breaking down on the formation lap, led to a second formation lap for the field.
Chaos continued once the green flag was waved, with the Ferrari #71 diving to the inside of five other cars at Turn 1, running into the side of the #96 Porsche of Patric Niederhauser, giving the Porsche a puncture and forcing them to retire from the race.
A chain reaction was set off by the Ferrari #71, with multiple cars being spun around at Turn 1. Valentino Rossi would be caught up in the incident aboard his #46 BMW, falling from 24th to outside the Top 30 at the end of the opening lap.
The #2 Mercedes and #998 BMW of Augusto Farfus would come together on the exit of Turn 2, the pair of them both ending up on the grass in the infield after their contact, amidst other cars also making contact and spinning around. The #998 would recover to 11th place at the end of the three hours, and after losing a lot of time.
After an incredibly chaotic first lap, most cars were still able to race and continued battling for positions, with the leaders attempting to duel the leading #163 Lamborghini driven by Jordan Pepper.
Alessandro Pier Guidi and the #51 Ferrari crew delivered an incredible race, coming through from 48th place on the grid, to finish 8th. The #51 Ferrari would have a late race duel with the #32 BMW of Dries Vanthoor, the pair made contact in the final 30 minutes, contact which left the BMW crawling back to the pit lane, and forced to retire from the race.
Grasser Racing Team's #163 Lamborghini would dominate the large majority of the race after seizing the lead on Lap 1 from the #96 Porsche. However, the cameras would be fixated on the battle for second between the #22 Porsche of Lauren Heinrich and #48 Mercedes of Daniel Morad.
The Porsche and Mercedes duelled for most of the final hour, with lapped traffic assisting the Porsche to hold the Mercedes at bay.
Ricardo Feller would bring the #99 Audi home for a strong 4th place finish, around 15 seconds off the podium places, the #99 crew finished as the top Audi, in an event which saw four different German Manufacturers inside the Top 5.
The #98 Rowe Racing BMW would finish in fifth after a well-fought battle against the #007 Aston Martin crew, who finished sixth after a post-race penalty. The #007 Aston Martin team stay towards the top of the championship, as we approach the half distance mark and go into the summer break.
Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin and Raffaele Marciello would have an incredibly disappointing result for the #46 BMW, starting from 24th, falling to outside the Top 30 and eventually settling for an 18th place finish, it continues what has been an underwhelming couple of months for Rossi fans, with some unfortunate results in both the World Endurance Championship and GT World Challenge.
Formula E driver Jake Dennis would just miss out on the podium with the #991 BMW team in the Bronze cup, beaten by the #97 Porsche, brought home by Dennis Marschall who finished 22nd place overall.
Aurelian Panis and the #10 Mercedes crew would take overall victory in the Gold cup, finishing 15th overall with Lorenzo Patrese finishing at the back of the Gold Cup for the #88 Audi squad.
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