Weekend Summary

Although competitive action did not kick off until Saturday morning, a pair of private test sessions were held on Friday which gave the crews a taste of what the weekend would offer. The opening session was held on a thoroughly wet track while the afternoon running took place in dry conditions. Come free practice, the #163 was on the pace, setting the second-fastest time and just over two-tenths away from the best effort and just four-hundredths quicker than the #48 Mercedes. The rain stayed and then intensified during the pre-qualifying session, in which the #163 finished fourth fastest.

Qualifying produced a different challenge as, although held in dry weather, the track lacked a lot of rubber from the heavy overnight rain showers. Nevertheless, Pepper, Mapelli and Perera set a combined qualifying time of 1m54.075 to secure third on the grid. After a difficult Spa 24 Hours and start to the Nürburgring weekend, the #63 Iron Lynx crew of Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Matteo Cairoli improved to set the 10th-quickest time. In the Bronze Cup, the #78 Barwell Motorsport car of Sandy Mitchell, Till Bechtolsheimer and Antoine Doquin qualified third, while Grasser’s Silver Cup entry of Haytham Qarajouli, Mateo Llarena and Loris Cabirou was third fastest.

Off the rolling start, Pepper got a decent getaway and used great dexterity to avoid the wayward Ferrari under braking for turn one. As the Ferrari and Porsche made contact, Pepper overtook both cars at turn two to take the early lead. The #48 Mercedes then appeared to have superior pace than the #163, but a strong first and third sectors helped the Lamborghini stay ahead until the pit-stops. Mapelli then took over and maintained the lead but had to defend hard against the waves of attack from the Mercedes, with Engel at the wheel. Grasser then pitted a lap earlier than the #48 and, despite slipping to second momentarily, Perera perfected a cutback move at turn one to reclaim the lead.

With clear air, Perera slowly extended his margin as the Mercedes began to struggle, eventually coming home just under 10-seconds ahead at the finish. The #63 endured an up and down race but was ultimately rewarded with a top 10 finish after a lengthy battle with the #32 BMW in the middle of the race. Caldarelli showed strong race craft and determination to keep the #63 ahead at crucial moments, while Cairoli did likewise to bring the car home in ninth position.