Porsche triumphed in the 2011 24 hours of Nürburgring, with the 911 GT3 RSR of Marc Lieb, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Lucas Luhr crossing the line after 156 laps and 3,958.968 km (2,462.044 miles), a new record for the legendary endurance race in the demanding Nordschleife.
The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR first led the race at Saturday evening, at 23:25, and then its drivers held on to it for the following 16 hours and 35 minutes, or 108 laps.
BMW didn’t seem too affected by Dirk Muller’s first practice’s shunt at the Karussell, with the German and his three team mates bringing the M3 GT home in second place and being the only ones in the same lap as the winners.
The M3 GT was followed by three Audi R8s and two Mercedes-Benz SLSs, while a Ferrari and two Porsches completed the top 10.
The 911 GT3 R Hybrid showed promise, climbing into the lead four hours after the start. However problems in the differential, which struck twice, and a minor shunt in the Flugplatz resulted in it losing a lot of time in the pits and, despite posting lap times similar, or even faster, to the leaders, finished in 28th place.
Nürburgring 24 hour race results
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 lap
5. Ekström/Scheider/Werner/Abt (S/D/D/D), Audi R8 LMS, – 2 laps
6. Heyer/Jäger/Bleekemolen/Seyffarth (D/D/NL/D), Mercedes-Benz SLS, – 3 laps
7. Arnold/Margaritis/Brück/Frankenhout (D/D/D/NL), Mercedes-Benz SLS, – 3 laps
8. Farnbacher/Simonsen/Seefried/Melo (D/MC/D/I), Ferrari F 458, – 4 laps
9. Abbelen/Schmitz/Kentenich/T. Bergmeister (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, – 4 laps
10. Weiss/Kainz/Jacobs/Krumbach (D/D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, – 5 laps
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