Winner & Highlights of SRO GT World Challenge Europe @ Hockenheim

For the first time in the history of SRO GT World Challenge Europe and the GT3 championship, the race in Germany, is taking place at the Hockenheimring in Bader Wurtemberg, Germany.  Team WRT and Audi have the pole position for today's motor race.  We saw in last month's 24 Hours of Spa, the crown jewel and the second round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, that Mercedes were the ones to deliver.  Who will we see on the top step at the end of three hours here in Germany?  We're about to find out.  Hockenheim, two decades ago, was changed dramatically, from a long, flowing speed palace, into a shorter, twisting and turning circuit.  There was a long blast, a dyno run through the woods.  That is long gone now.

This is a new venue for Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS.  It promises to lend itself to an amazing race, with one tight hairpin.  At Spa, with their win, Dani Juncadella, Raffaele Marciello, and Jules Gounon, after their 24 Hours of Spa win, they are 11 points ahead of the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 of Daniel Serra, Antonio Fuoco, and Davide Rigon.  Oddly, WRT are not in contention for the Endurance Cup championship, but they could still win both overall and Sprint Cup this year.  Yours truly, I believe I still have more Sprint Cup races to talk about.  Stay tuned for that, maybe in the coming days.  Maro Engel, he knows Hockenheim from German GT and from DTM which used to be totally run by touring cars but is now also a GT3 championship of course.

ROWE Racing with the BMW M4 GT3, scored points at the six, and 12-hour marks at the 24 Hours of Spa.  They could not seal the deal of course.  But Augusto Farfus says they are putting the pieces together. The tires work well, and the car is very consistent. The Iron Dames Ferrari of Michelle Gatting, Sara Bovy, and Rahel Frey, they are leading the championship in the Gold Cup and have momentum for part two of the season, these last two 3-hour events.  The Silver Cup could be won by WRT with Jean Baptiste Simmenauer, Benjamin Goethe, and Thomas Neubauer.

Neubauer says that the goal for the #30 team is scoring points.  That is their objective.  Other contenders are the three drivers in the #99 Audi for Attempto Racing Audi.  They are motivated are Alex Aka, Nicholas Scholl, and Marius Zug.  They are motivated and confident going into their home race.  Mercedes are in the fight as well.  Dominik Baumann is the points leader in the class and this track for endurance races, is small.  But it is his home track, really.  Qualifying threw surprises into the hat.  David Addison and John Watson are ready to bring us the commentary.  In 1970, this place was its old self, with F1 and sports cars.  Everyone is putting their finger in the wind to see which direction the wind goes.  We have 16 corners and just over two and a half miles to work with.  17 turns, truly.  

49 cars starting the race among seven brands.  Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, McLaren, Audi, Mercedes, and Lamborghini.  The minimum refueling time on pit stops is 37 seconds.  Again, this is the first time GTWC Europe has been to Hockenheim.  This track is so different from what it used to be.  Just ovet two and a half miles in length.  We used to have two massive straightaways.  Herman Tilke redesigned the place and there are not too many high-speed corners, but there are more low speed corners.  49 cars will start today's race.  One driver needs points today more than most and that's Antonio Fuoco.  He and the team found pace in morning qualifying.

Heat could be a factor.  It is a hot one today.  The Iron Lynx team has the setup on the car.  Alessio Rovera is standing in this weekend in the #71 for Daniel Serra who is not at this race.  The car was just not handling the way they wanted.  The track is very hot at 47 degrees Celsius.  Tire degradation will be a major deal.  No one wants to talk about it, but it is there, as we are looking at some of the contenders.  Mattia Drudi says that he hopes they can convert a great qualifying effort into race pace.  They had technical issues on Thursday during testing.  The race is always a different deal.  Stay out of trouble and avoid contact of any kind.

Tire degradation, again, is a massive issue.  We'll be banging on about it all day, but it is there.  Drudi driving for Tresor by Car Collection.  That is the #12 Audi R8 GT3 he shares with Christopher Haase and Luca Ghiotto.  Neil Verhagen sharing with Dan Harper and Max Hesse in the first race at Hockenheim for the BMW M4 GT3.  That car is the #50 entry.  Verhagen starting this race as we see the #71 Ferrari pushed to it's grid spot.  Watch turn two.  We could see a concertina effect there, and into turn six.  Those two will be a couple of calamity corners on the speedway.  Jack Aitken says the heat has thrown a curveball.  One hour of tire wear on an abrasive old race track will be something to take a look at.

Aurelien Panis will share the #26 Sainteloc Audi R8 with Cesar Gazeau and Nicolas Baert, starting from 20th spot.  We will be watching the championships for Gold, Silver, and Pro-Am.  Valentino Rossi is going to start the #46 WRT Audi today.  The car has a reflective cover on it to radiate the heat away from the interior as we hear the German national anthem playing in the background.  We have heard the anthem here at the home track of many of the German Formula 1 legends not the least of which, the great Michael Schumacher.  The McLaren's are in good shape going into the race as we see Dennis "The Menace" Lind, who was last racing here 11 years ago in a Formula 3 open wheel car.

The McLaren is a strong package.  He feels the JP Motorsports team could have been on pole.  Lind sharing with Vincent Abril of France and another ex-Formula 1 ace, Christian Klien, aboard the first of the JP Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3's.  Car #111.  The sister #112 entry being shared by Maciej Blazek, Patryk Krupinski, and Norbert Siedler.  Lind says the car is strong and we have seen him make his name in Lamborghini's.  Ralf Bohn will start the #911 Herberth Motorsports Porsche that he shares as always with the Renauer brothers, Alfred and Robert.  

The McLaren's have been the fastest through the speed traps at turn six just under 280 kilometers an hour.  Another driver who races for a different brand said to a McLaren rep, "wow, you guys are extremely fast down the straight!"  The McLaren representative, holding his cards close to his chest says "no, not really."  Ah yes.  Motor racing gamesmanship at it's finest.  Do not give away your speed secrets to the competition, whatever you do.  Speaking of McLaren, in 17th place we see the #38 Jota McLaren 720S GT3 to be started by Rob Bell and also to be driven by Oliver Wilkinson and Marvin Kirchhofer today.

Everyone is stunned by the quickness of the McLaren's, and we saw how quick they were at Spa.  Christopher Mies, at his home race, essentially.  He counts Spa Francorchamps, where we raced the 24 hours last time out, as a home circuit as well.  Christian Klien loves Hockenheim for the history and sees how many fans are in the stands and the paddock.  The Audi is quick, but the track today will be demanding on the cars, especially the tires and the brakes.  Mies will do the middle or the last stint while Lucas Legeret will start it.  Arthur Rougier is taking the first stint aboard the #19 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3.  Rougier driving with fellow Frenchman Leo Roussel and Giacomo Altoe of Italy.

We have seen Altoe racing not only in SRO Europe but also in SRO GT World Challenge America in recent years and even at some points this season in the American series, he has run as a fill-in.  The grid is clearing up and the engines will crank up before we go n to the formation lap.  Then we will have a start.  Mercedes could have a good shot on one of their home circuits.  Luca Stolz will start the #2 AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes AMG GT3 sharing with Maro Engel and Steijn Schothorst.  He got a grid penalty for accidentally hitting another car on his out lap in qualifying.  He did not see the McLaren but copped a three place grid penalty.

They want to show they have pace in the race and are going for a top five.  There are good overtaking places on the track.  Stolz ran German GT for a number of years.  Benjamin Goethe has class pole in Silver and he will start the #30 Team WRT Audi R8 sharing of course with his French co-drivers Thomas Neubauer and Jean Baptiste Simmenauer.  These drivers improve and it is about growing up and maturing.  Benji Goethe has learned and gained much more confidence.  James Calado from seventh spot, starts the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari.

Calado is sharing that automobile with Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.  Audi #12 will have Mattia Drudi at the controls starting fourth on the grid.  He is teamed with Christopher Haase and Luca Ghiotto.  At the pointy end of the grid there are lots of Audi's.  It is going to be all about who is leading at the very end of this event, honestly.  Alessio Rovera on the outside of the front row.  Next up is Jack Aitken sharing with Albert Costa and Mirko Bortolotti.  The Mercedes AMG GT3's are down the order, but come the race, the big, front engine Mercedes is bound to show it's hand and adapt to the conditions.  On the pole is the #32 Team WRT Audi.  Charles Weerts starting the car and sharing with Kelvin van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor.

Tires and brakes are going to be a major part of this race in the heat as the grid is complete.  The engines fire up.  Clear the grid, please.  Clear the grid.  The marshals blow their whistles and hold the signs telling the pit crews to get to the lane, now.  The mechanics are back across the grid now.  The cars roll off now behind the safety car as the marshal waves the green flag and on the formation lap, the temperature needs to be in the Pirelli P Zero tires.  This is a three-hour race.  It is a sprint more than it is an enduro.  Tire and brake temperatures must be at their optimum.

In another driver swap this weekend, the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 has Martin Konrad, the Austrian, filling in for Jonathan Hui alongside both Chris Froggatt and Eddie Cheever III.  49 cars starting this race as the field wriggles into the stadium section, and in a moment, we should be underway.  The safety car peels into the pit lane.  The grid is formed up.  Round four of GTWC Europe Endurance at Hockenheim is go!  Weerts and Rovera lead the field with Aitken and Drudi next followed by Legeret.  Braking into turn two.

Watch out as the #46 Audi of Valentino Rossi goes off the road in turn three.  This is his first race of any kind at Hockenheim.  Jack Aitken, popping up through the middle, while Alessio Rovera, I think, runs wide and off the road.  Rovera is OK but we have a spinner in the middle of the pack!  The #38 Jota McLaren of Rob Bells spears off the track and piles into the barriers!  Crunch!  The safety car will be deployed immediately!  That McLaren is completely wrecked.  That whole shemozzle began in the Spitzkehre.  Not exactly sure which one that is as on the map I am referencing, some turns have names and others don't.

Safety car deployed on lap two.  Charles Weerts' gap will disappear immediately.  Well, well, well.  The top ten just before Bell went off the road, we had Charles Weerts leading followed immediately by Aitken, Drudi, Legeret, Engel, Schramm, Marciello, Lappalainen, Goethe, and Nicolai Kjaergaard.  Massive action early doors.  Not in the best way either.  Maro Engel has gained quite a few places and likewise, Raffaele Marciello.  Arthur Rougier has brought the #19 Lamborghini to the lane and the team is changing tires.  I would presume he was the poor chap to tangle with Rob Bell.  He has to stay on the lead lap.  Rob Bell is out of the car and OK.  Thank God!  That was a massive smash into the wall.  One Porsche has damage on it but maybe he picked up bodywork from someone else.

We will have to take a Captain Cook at the replay.  In replay we can see Valentino Rossi going off track and it is hard to tell if he was run wide or if he went off in the grass of his own accord.  The McLaren and the Porsche had already gone by when Rossi went off the track.  We now run once again behind the safety car.  We are going to need a lap or two to clear up the incident.  Here's it all again, in slow motion.  The Lambo and the Porsche were both behind Rob Bell and so one of those two had to send him spinning, careering off the road.  A tire appears to have departed company from the wheel on Bell's car.

I have to agree with lead commentator David Addison in that he got tipped by the Porsche and that turned him into the path of Art Rougier in the Lambo and poor old Rougier had no place to go except to slam on the brakes and make contact with the spinning McLaren.  One of the Dinamic Porsche's ran up the back of the McLaren in turn spinning Bell out and he came across the Lamborghini of Arthur Rougier before absolutely clobbering the fence.  Thank goodness, Rob Bell is fine.  Arthur Rougier returns to the lane as he has more damage than his team previously thought.  They were expecting, "OK, let's just put a tire on and send him back out."  Not even close.  They will have more repairs to do on that automobile.

The McLaren is facing the other way and we can see that the principal damage is to the nose as marshals are bringing back bits and pieces of that car.  That McLaren might be a pile of junk and will have to be rebuilt or something before the finale in Barcelona, Spain, for the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup.  There might be a door over there at the side of the road as well.  The car accelerates out of turn seven with the Porsche right on his six.  So hard to see how that precipitated.  The Porsche, the Lamborghini.  I mean, this is so hard to see because the cars were all packed up in a wad, like sardines in a can.  You just can't see.  

The stewards are investigating the Bell and Rougier part of this fracas.  The Porsche apparently has nothing to do with it at all.  So we can delete that theory.  We know that the McLaren was pretty well written off but what we don't know yet is how extensively the barriers were damaged and how long it is going to take the marshals to fix them.  There are two Dinamic Motorsports Porsche's in this race.  The #54 with Klaus Bachler at the controls is perfectly fine while the one picking up damage is the sister car #56.  That car was down the order a way, so this puzzle has to have another piece, someplace.  #54 being shared by Bachler Alessio Picariello, and Matteo Cairoli, while the #56 car has Giorgio Roda sharing with Marius Nakken and Mikkel Pedersen.

This is strange though because no place does the memo from the Race Director even mention a Porsche being a part of this incident.  Aye yaye yaye yaye yaye.  The plot doth thicken a bunch here at Hockenheim.  That barrier that Rob Bell clattered did not have any additional protection in front of it and so we will have to wait for it to be repaired and now we see that there's still bodywork attached to the Dinamic Motorsports Porsche.  Now, that is the #56 of Giorgio Roda, not the sister car.  Roda was fine at first not involved in the accident, but by dint of the debris being scattered all over, he's picked up a chunk of it that is off of another car.  

The Porsche has all its radiators at the front and so that piece of bodywork wll obstruct the cooling at least on the right-hand side of the automobile.  That chunk of bodywork has embedded itself into the front splitter and so this is going to be a bear for the Dinamic team to try and repair without taking that car to the garage.  Surprising the crew chief didn't get on the radio and say "mate, come in.  You have a chunk of debris on the front of the car."  Maybe only now through the world feed pictures from SRO, they see it and go, "oh no!  We've got work to do!"  The team is kitted up in the lane waiting for the car and they'll jump on it and pull it back to the garage to enact the repairs.  

Game over for Jota.  They've turned in the driver logbook and filed their incident report with the stewards.  They will retire from this race and have to move ahead to the finale in Spain.  Jeepers creepers!  We've had more than we've bargained for already and there's only ten minutes on the board.  What next in this race?  What next?!  The cars are running behind the safety car.  We can absolve any Porsche from responsibility as Giorgio Roda pits and the mechanics are pulling the fender away which has gone deep in front of the cooling space, and they will have to give the debris back to Jota.  The incident between Rob Bell and Arthur Rougier is indeed under investigation.

Rougier thankfully is on the lead lap.  In the replay of the start, Charles Weerts actually got a good one, moving ahead of Alessio Rovera.  Rovera was focused on another car he was trying to deal with.  Since the start, Raffaele Marciello has gained a couple spots.  One car, and a bunch of debris are being retrieved and the barrier will be repaired.  If it is a non fuel or tires stop, more people can indeed work on the car.  It is two for the tire change, other activity has a different regulation.  It looks like the track is clear.  Turn seven is cleared up.  The safety car lights remain on.

We have a lengthy safety car, and 15 minutes into the race we have not had a clean racing lap yet.  The safety car was really deployed immediately.  It was a glancing blow which dissipated the energy.  Konsta Lapalainen, the Finnish driver, is currently leading the Pro-Am class aboard the #14 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini.  This weekend, he is sharing that car with South Africa's Stuart White, and new team recruit, Mick Wishofer from Austria.  Tuomas Tujula, the other Finnish driver who was a part of that squad, is no longer with the team.  The safety car driver has been told to quicken the pace as we work lap eight.  We run barely 23 miles in the race so far.

The speeds quicken and so we should be back to racing and the queue is massive.  The field has really stretched out and that will ensure we get a clean and safe start as the #56 Porsche, caboose on the field.  The forklift has to move off the circuit after getting the barriers in place.  We will have to wait for this forklift to move.  They might be starting to straightene the barrier out with the forklift tractor and push the fencing back into place as the local German marshals assist the SRO safety team.  The pace has slowed considerably.  Team Manager of car #19 to the srewards' office, please.  This is the beginning of the story as far as that car is concerned.

Valentino Rossi has plummeted to 20th place as it appears the safety car has gone back to the pit lane.  Charles Weerts is in control of the field ajd the safety car has stopped at turn six, the Spitzkehre.  Charles Weerts leading the field through Sachs Kurve.  Only another 15 minutes before the pit lane opens and when the window is open we will see regular stops.  So, the order is Charles Weerts, Alessio Rovera, Mattia Drudi, Jack Aitken, and Christian Klien, the top five.  The drivers have a 65-minute maximum stint and we ought to see cars pit at the one-hour mark which is in 40 minutes.  The tires and brakes are in good shape as far as we have gone in the race to this point as the field accelerates through the Parabolika.  

Marvin Kirchhofer, Bell's co-dr9ver in the now retired #38 Jota Sport McLaren 720S GT3 says Bell had a good start but was hit from behind and suffered a massive impact.  The McLaren is a very safe car.  One race left in the season and they want to do well at the finale in Barcelona.  So, that leaves Christian Klien, the highest placed McLaren in the field aboard the #111 JP Motorsports car.  Arthur Rougier goes off into the dust and glances Rob Bell who whips around and absolutely cannons into the barriers.  The Leipert Motorsports Lamborghini hit an errant tire off the McLaren.  That is the #27 Huracan GT3 in the hands of Brendon Leitch from New Zealand, Spaniard Isaac Tutumlu Lopez, and Jusuf Owega from Germany, in his home race, or at least he races under a German license.

The McLaren employs a carbon fiber monocell in the chassis.  So the driver protection is excellent and it is very expensive, though, to fix the bodywork as they head next to the finale in Barcelona as we discussed.  The safety car will pick up the leader, Charles Weerts and the recovery flatbed is still on rack but we've had a good chunk of the race so far behind the safety car which throws strategy into limbo.  Safety cars can indeed breed safety cars.  Unbelievably, only one car has been eliminated from the motor race and we wish Rob Bell well as he shall see no further action today. 

Konsta Lappalainen leading in the Silver division as they are in the stadium section and the safety car lights remain on.  So, we just have to wait for the flatbed.  Ralf Bohn leading the Gold Cup in the #911 Porsche 911 GT3R for Herberth Motorsports.  Charles Weerts is looking after the car, checking his instruments and making sure he will have clear road ahead.  12 laps done and dusted.  Alexander West has the Pro-Am class lead in the #188 Garage 59 McLaren that the Swede shares with Portuguese drivers Miguel Ramos and Henrique Chaves.  

I missed something and it seems Alexander West is now racing under a British license and not a Swedish one.  Well, well.  Things change.  That said, the graphics on the broadcast show a Swedish flag.  Anyhow, Louis Machiels runs second in the Pro-Am division at the present time.  Machiels, the Belgian, at the wheel of the #52 AF Corse Ferrari, sharing with his Italian co-drivers Stefano Constantini and Andrea Bertolini.  Ian Loggie, the Englishman, runs third aboard the #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG GT3, sharing with Valentin Pierburg of Germany and Dominik Baumann of Austria.

Ho hum.  We wait for the track cleanup to be completed.  The drivers driving stint one, had no idea and did not expect this.  Poor old Valentino Rossi is languishing in 20th spot after mowing the lawn at the start of the motor race earlier.  Out of the Spitzkehre they motor.  10th, 14th, and 31st overall are the positions for the Pro-Am, Silver, and Gold class leaders.  Remember, these classes are based only on driver ratings.  Everyone in this race is aboard a GT3 spec race car.  Silver, 10th.  Gold, 14th, Pro-Am 31st.  Valentino Rossi will be chomping at the bit.  Speed up.  Brake.  Speed up.  Brake.  Just like highway congestion and your morning commute.

Alessio Rovera, Italian GT champion, he is a sub for Spaniard Daniel Serra.  He will be helping to gain points for that car as we watch his footwork.  Accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake.  In the old days, drivers used to accelerate and brake both with their right foot.  Nowadays, in the last two decades anyhow, drivers have been taught to use the right foot for the accelerator and the left foot for the brake, or in cases of drivers with disabilities who use hand controls, right hand, accelerate, left hand, brake.  Back in the old days, there weren't as many safety cars.  In Group C in the '80s it was a pace car.  In a Group C or IMSA GTP prototype you had more room for your feet.

The brakes have cooled off.  Left foot is for the clutch pedal and for the footrest to the left of that.  With paddle shifting on these modern race cars, nobody needs a clutch pedal anymore.  Yawn.  We keep going.  But excellent news from Race Director Alain Adam.  Safety car in this lap, and so, we'll finally go green half an hour into the race.    So, we have indeed lost half an hour of racing time.  Charles Weerts, weaving 'round to put temperature into the sidewall and the core of the tire heated up, not necessarily the surface of the tire itself.

Hopefully things will be more orderly this time.  Safety car to the pit lane and we'll have half an hour before the first round of pit stops.  Safety car lights out, coming into the stadium sectuon.  Back the field up and control everyone.  He comes to the Sachs Kurve and now, we are back to green.  Punch it!  Rovera and Drudi second and tirxdx and we are back to racing now.  Weerts into turn one and Mattia Drudi is now all over the back of Alessio Rovera like a cheap suit.  In a brave dive, Drudi goes through to second and Jack Aitken nips the Ferrari for third spot!  Wow!

Jack Aitken has the steam but runs too deep and here comes Christian Klien as well!  Klien is in third spot.  Poor old Alessio Rovera is down in fifth, look.  Klien wanted past Jack Aitken, and Aitken said, "no you don't, sunbeam.  That's my place.  Give it back."  Four wide!  Man, oh man!  Something has to give way here, or someone has to give way.  Four into one won't work and James Calado spins off taking the sister Iron Lynx Ferrari with him!  #71 slides to the inside wall, plowing at high speed through the gravel trap!  Wallop!  It's all come apart for the Iron Lynx team!  

The two teammates tangle!  Rovera and Calado out!  Calado is farther down the championship order but there's no question that for 2022, because of this incident, the Iron Lynx team's golden goose is cooked I'm afraid.  This is manna from heaven for the Akkodis ASP #88 crew!  They will be dancing, singing, jumping up and down.  Trust me, I would not want to be a fly on the wall in the Iron Lynx team debrief this evening because the team boss is going to give those two simpletons a thrashing for taking each other out of the motor race.

Now, calling a racing driver a simpleton is below their dignity.  But in this case, someone just was not using their darn head.  Local yellow in sector three.  Davide Rigon and Antonio Fuoco will be crushed.  The team are in absolute horror.  They are baffled.  Calado, on the dirty side of the road, he just runs right into Fuoco.  What is the cardinal rule of motor racing?  Don't take your team mate out!  Iron Lynx have just broken that rule, bigtime.  One of the Audi's, it looks like for Sainteloc, has gone around.  Wait, wait.  That's a WRT Audi.  Forgive me.  Mea culpa.  That is the #33 Arnold Robin driven car facing the wrong way up the road.  

Arnold Robin, Maxime Robin, and Ryuichi Tomita.  Two French brothers, and the Japanese driver, in that trio.  Poor old Rovera got biffed by Calado who was trying to pass Maro Engel and failed.  So, Calado may be the bloke to blame there.  Rovera had no place to go.  He will be steaming!  There's a snatch vehicle headed to rescue the Ferrari that could be covered by a local yellow.  Charles Weerts leads the motor race and in other news, Arthur Rougier has been penalized with a stop and go of ten seconds for causing a collision.  Rob Bell, he is perfectly OK but is understandably madder than a hornet's nest right now.

It's all happenign right now.  Light the fuse.  Raffaele Marciello madly flashing the headlights at Maro Engel ahead and of course, you can only flash the lights so many times.  The switch has a specific amount of time set into it so you don't sear the headlamps into the other driver's brain.  Marciello knows that if he is going to go, he has to go now, and take advantage of everything with the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari languishing in retirement.  Strike while the iron is hot, as they say.  Pardon the pun.  You know, Rovera never would have been caught in that trap if he hadn't been stuck behind Mattia Drudi.  But that is motor racing.  Drudi was the cork in the bottle and there's nothing Rovera could have done differently.

Hubert Haupt is being bold and daring, making a pass on the #31 WRT Audi.  Haupt makes his move.  Ugh!  That was from a yellow flag zone.  The marshals will not like that one I don't think.  Close shave.  Mattia Drudi though, is really pushing and Marciello closing on Engel.  An internicene Mercedes scrap to prove who is top dog at Stuttgart.  Valentino Rossi moves by Ralf Bohn for position as Bohn remains the leader in the Gold Cup in the Herberth #911 Porsche.  Bohn has also lost a spot to Nick Yelloly in the BMW M4 GT3.  Bohn continues as Gold Cup leader but loses two places.  

Yelloly, sharing the #98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 with Augusto Farfus and Nicky Catsburg.  Porsche vs. McLaren for the Gold Cup through Spitzkehre.  Rossi passes Yelloly as Hubert Haupt also makes a pass into turn eight.  Everyone is being defensive.  Keep your position and don't lose it whatever you do.  The Ferrari has been moved as Lucas Legeret uncorks fastest lap.  Second in Gold Cup behind Ralf Bohn is Brendon Iribe at the wheel of the #7 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3.  Iribe sharing with Ollie Milroy and Frederic Schandorff as always.  So, the American, the Brit, and the Dane.  

James Calado continues, in 40th place.  #71, game over, in an access road.  Konsta Lappalainen continues leading Silver in the #14 Lamborghini.  Nicolai Kjaergaard, another Danish driver in second place.  Kjaergaard in the other Garage 59 McLaren, the #159 entry.  He shares that 720S GT3 with Manuel Maldonado and Dean MacDonald.  Manuel Maldonado, brother of Pastor Maldonado, former Formula 1 driver, both from Venezuela, although Manuel Maldonado is now seemingly racing under a British license.  Working lap 19 as Rougier serves the penalty.  Charles Weerts has uncorked the fastest lap of the race but can't shake Mattia Drudi right now.

19 laps, 54 miles completed.  Raffaele Marciello is currently buried in sixth spot in the Pro class aboard the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes.  Weerts cuts a best lap of 1:38.6 on relatively fresh tires with a third of the fuel load used.  Marciello continuing to chase Engel who is ignoring the headlamp flashing as Arthur Rougier is serving his penalty and Christian Klien has uncorked an absolute best into the middle sector.  So, the JP Motorsport McLaren is one to watch as the gap through Sachs Kurve is closing up.  The gap is 4/10ths of a second.  Christian Klien sharing the JP Motorsports McLaren with Dennis Lind and Vincent Abril and I would imagine that it would be the Monagasque driver next in the rotation.  Abril has raced with several brands in the last few years.  Bentley, Mercedes, McLaren, and he may have done a stint at Porsche but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Dennis Lind will be the finald driver into the car, and there, look, we can see Jack Aitken is closing up on Klien as we speak.  Maro Engel and Raffaele Marciello are next in the queue for two of the Mercedes AMG GT3's.  Lucas Legeret in another Sainteloc Audi is seventh.  Rounding out the top ten are Konsta Lappalainen, Kim Louis Schramm, and Nikolai Kjaergaard.  Jack Aitken is trying everything he knows to get past Christian Klien.  Klien ought to have some daylight between himself and Aitken but Jack Aitken will have to have a lot of savvy to get by.

Charles Weerts is starting to pull away from Mattia Drudi and the Engel vs. Marciello Mercedes scrap continues and the two Mrrcedes AMG GT3's are losing time.  Marciello in turn is losing time to Engel, flashing the darn headlights like crazy.  Marciello will hand the car to Daniel Juncadella in a wee while.  Now, a notation to the stewards of an incident at turn two between Brendon Leitch and Valentino Rossi.  Something, a contretemps, has gone on there.  Pit stop time early doors for the Barwell Motorsports #77 Lamborghini.  

It's too early doors for that right now, mate.  This is the Alex MacDowall, Sam De Haan, and Patrick Kujala car.  Two British drivers, and a Finlander.  This is unscheduled for a problem, and it seems it has a flat right rear tire that has been damaged by debris.  New right rear tire, and we are 16 minutes out from the pit window.  Meantime, Jack Aitken is still giving Christian Klien everything he can take.  I mean, he's throwing the kitchen sink at him as we speak.  Aitken is right on Klien's six and a jolly lucky break for Barwell as they rejoin the race right ahead of the leaders and should be at least on the tail end of the lead lap.

They've come out hanging by their fingernails to the lead lap.  Marciello clattering over the curbs, and Aitken commits to a move and goes by the McLaren and we know the McLaren has more speed and the preferred line.  Will he dive inside into turn six?  Yes.  Aitken slams the door in Klien's face!  Here are the overall VMAX top speeds.  Maximum velocity around Hockenheim.  It is a straight line as Maciej Blazek in the #112 is fastest at 269 clicks (168.125 miles an hour) followed by Brendon Leitch in the Leipert Motorsports Lamborghini at 268 kilometers an hour (167 and a half miles an hour), Brendon Iribe at 267 kilometers an hour (167 miles an hour), Lorenzo Patrese at 266 kilometers an hour (166 and 1/4 miles an hour), and Christian Klien at 265 kilometers an hour (165 and 5/8ths miles an hour).

Klien still right on Aitken's back door as we are getting set for pit stops.  Maro Engel moves through Sachs Kurve.  Engel in fifth place right now.  He is closing in on Klien.  Aitken reeling in Drudi who in turn is reeling in Weerts at the front.  1.3 seconds has decreased to half a second.  The rear tires are crying enough on Audi #32 as Drudi is coming and fast.  He is not getting away from Drudi.  Drudi is the shark and Weerts is definitely the minnow into the stadium section.  Drudi is quicker.  Sam De Haan is being told to move aside of the leaders as Jack Aitken has pulled away from Christian Klien.  Drudi has lost out to Weerts.  Drudi passes the Lamborghini though.

Through the hairpin they go.  25 laps now completed.  71 miles.  Jack Aitken extends the advantage over Christian Klien.  Engel reeling in Klien and now, Raffaele Marciello is closing in on them both.  The McLaren has the straight-line speed edge.  They will attain their top speed at the end of the straight while other cars will be at terminal velocity before the end.  Dani Juncadella is suited and booted and he will be the next driver into the car at Akkodis ASP while Jules Gounon will drive the final stint.  Wow.  Konsta Lappalainen, look, the leader in Silver is now right on Marciello's decklid.  Well, well, well.  

Lappalainen may try to find something in his bag of tricks to distract Marciello which is not what Raffaele Marciello will want in the least.  Sam De Haan returns to the lane aboard the Barwell Lamborghini, so something is wrong there.  They might have more trouble with the car than they anticipated.  Klien, Engel, Marciello, and Lappalainen are all in one queue.  Marciello is reeling in Engel even more.  Lappalainen passes Marciello and he passes Weerts because Charles Weerts, race leader, is slowing down out of the Spitzkehre!  Oh my!  This will put the cat among the pigeons now and turn the race on it's head.

Now maybe I spoke to soon.  Weerts is back up to speed, but something slowed him down, a lack of drive, out of the Spitzkehre.  We look in replay and maybe Weerts just overshoots the corner.  Mattia Drudi has gone ahead now of Charles Weerts.  Weerts is now in third having lost a place as well, look, to Jack Aitken in the Lamborghini.  Christian Klien in fourth.  Maro Engel in fifth place.  Raffaele Marciello, one of the winners of the 24 Hours of Spa, back in July, now sixth.  Weerts ran wide into the turn and picked up clag and rubbish on his tires.

Perhaps Weerts is dealing with a lack of acceleration due to gear selection problems.  We shall see.  Team manager of the #71 yellow Iron Lynx Ferrari summoned to the stewards immediately.  James Calado in the sister car #51 is now up to 32nd place.  What did I say earlier?  That incident, you had to know, was going to be under investigation by the stewards, and now it is.  28 laps now done and dusted from the leaders as the margin widens out between Mattia Drudi and Jack Aitken.  79 and a half miles down.  Ralf Bohn has pitted the #911 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R and handed the car to Alfred Renauer.  

Plus, the #777 car has also hit the lane for service.  Al Faisal al Zubair started the car and has now handed the car to Axcil Jeffries.  Now we see Valentino Rossi pitting early after 55 minutes of a 65 minute stint.  The team obviously deciding on strategy to stick either Nico Muller or Fredric Vervisch into the car for as long as possible.  Charles Weerts is having issues with downshifting.  But is it a glitch or is it something they'll cope with for the rest of the race?  Weerts runs deep into the turn another time and so that's part of the answer to the question right in front of our very eyes, ladies and gentlemen.  

#32 is in strife.  He is in recovery mode, but something just isn't working.  He is now in ninth place.  Can he shift?  I think the transmission is not shifting down.  He is stuck in high gear.  He has a gearbox issue on that car.  Weerts' efforts are for naught.  He is a shot duck because he will just keep losing places and you can the compressor for the gearbox constantly buzzing which means that there's no actuator pressure for the gearbox to make the gear change.  It's this constant, buzz, sound, from the onboard camera.  Engel slides wide in turn 15.  Raffaele Marciello chasing, but he cannot answer the bell.  

Christian Klien gets away from this battle as Charles Weerts heads for the pit lane.  He could be in a real spot of bother, chugging down the pit lane.  Marciello still in hot pursuit of Engel and we see the Iron Dames Ferrari as well.  The leading Porsche of Klaus Bachler has just pitted, but he is way down in 14th spot.  The #32 Audi is getting regular service and staying in the pit lane, going for a driver change.  It could very well be a hydraulics issue.  Meanwhile, the team manager of the #46 Audi to the stewards for an incident.  So, Valentino Rossi could have a penalty in his future.  In the meantime, we resume with the Mercedes scrap.  Marciello quickening his pace, doing everything he knows to reel in Maro Engel.

The two V8 Mercedes' are so equal in performance.  It is down to driver skill through the back markers.  Axcil Jeffries gets loose and almost spins as we watch Mattia Drudi continuing to lead.  Now then, Maro Engel is chasing Drudi.  Marciello fourth and Engel third.  Raffaele Marciello has made up ten places as we have one hour in the bag and it is pit stop time.  Maciej Blazek is giving the second #112 JP Motorsports McLaren a good run today.  Brendon Iribe in the #7 Inception Racing McLaren, he now has the Gold Cup lead thanks in part to a pit stop from the #911 Herberth Motorsports Porsche.

Iribe is due a pit stop to hand over to either Ollie Milroy or Fredric Schandorff.  We have been racing now for just over an hour as the #32 Audi continues gettng service.  Kelvin van der Linde, the South African just barely began his scheduled stint, and felt something was wrong.  He brought the car in and obviously the mechanics have found a terminal problem and it is game over for WRT and #32.  They shall retire from the motor race, imminently.  It is a very disappointing thing because of their pole and the fact they were leading the motor race.  So, the rest of the event is going to be a fascinating battle because you have drivers at the top of the shop who you'd never expect to see in that position.

We have folks up there who we'd never expect to mention.  Mattia Drudi, Christian Klien (ex-Formula 1 driver), and still more.  Drudi to the pit lane sharing with Luca Ghiotto and Christopher Haase.  Haase is next into the car.  In case of a late race safety car, it looks like Audi Sport Team Car Collection are reserving Luca Ghiotto because he will be their late race bullet who can push, push, push, and perhaps get the job done.  Something has gone wrong with the #63 Lamborghini.  Jack Aitken brought the car in but they've tumbled down the order after a driver change over to the Spaniard, Albert Costa.  

Driver changes a go go for a number of the teams as Raffaele Marciello has also come in.  You cannot let the car down off the air jacks until the fuel hose is withdrawn and so the wait continues for the #12 Audi team.  He is down and away but it may be that he got trapped behind the #163 Lamborghini.  That is the Vincenzo Sospiri Racing car being shared by Marcus Paverud from Norway, Belgian Baptiste Moulin, and from Mexico, Michael Dorrbecker.  Engel had a good stop and he has pulled ahead in the lane of the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes.  Steijn Schothorst is now in #2 with Daniel Juncadella now in the #88 who has plummeted down the order.

Christian Klien should be handing the #111 JP Motorsports McLaren to Vincent Abril.  Audi #25 has moved up and is now splitting the #2 and #88 after Dani Juncadella's steady decline down the race order.  Juncadella is there but he is losing ground to Steijn Schothorst.  Christopher Mies is in the #25 Audi for the Sainteloc Junior Team.  That is the car of Christopher Mies, Patric Niederhauser, and Lucas Legeret.  Mies won't let the Mercedes get away.  He will be intent to make a pass ASAP.  He wants the place.  Christian Klien to the lane after being the erstwhile leader of the motor race.  

Luca Ghiotto is set to take the lead as we are also tracking the progress of James Calado's recovery in the much-beleaguered Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3, car #51.  Juncadella is losing time to the top three or four cars ahead of him.  Luca Ghiotto, Steijn Schothorst, Christopher Mies, and Stuart White.  Mies closing in on Schothorst into the stadium section as Dani Juncadella is trapped behind Stuart White, the South African in the Emil Frey Lambo.  Now then, Mies tries to get after Schothorst but Schothorst says, "not on your life, mate" and slams the door in Mies' face.  

Stuart White is having the drive of his season!  Still though, Luca Ghiotto is grinning like a Cheshire cat because he is seven seconds to the good over everybody else.  He is in the pound seats presently.  So, your top ten is Schothorst, Mies, White, Juncadella, Abril, Markus Winkelhock, Alessio Picariello, Fred Vervisch, and Cesar Gazeau.  Mercedes, Audi, Audi, Mercedes, McLaren, Audi, Porsche, Audi, Audi.  The Mercedes seemingly has enough pace to stay ahead of the Audi and in the stadium section, Mies can bring more power in the Audi.

In ninth spot, the #46 WRT/VR46 Audi of Fred Vervisch, 14 seconds off the race lead.  This will be the best opportunity for WRT to get a good result.  Rossi has completed his stint.  Fred Vervisch is driving the middle stint we are in now and Nico Muller is going to take the car to the end of the race.  Vervisch is two seconds down as we watch Cesar Gazeau second in the Silver class as at Sachs Kurve, the MadPanda Mercedes spins, car #90.  MadPanda are trundling 'round and those tires have gone square.  Patrick Assenheimer at the wheel of it, in a spot of bother at the final corner.  Ah.  Contact with a fellow Mercedes, the #93 Sky Tempesta car which was facing the wrong way in the turn.

Hello, mate.  How do you do?  There could be bodywork and a bit of fluid down where that little fender bender took place.  Mad Panda, that is the car of Sean Walkinshaw, Patrick Assenheimer (the driver currently at the controls), and Ezequiel Perez-Companc, the Argentinian owner of the team who also wears the panda head costume that is the iconic symbol of the team and is quite the character.  The #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Mercedes has Eddie Cheever III., Chris Froggatt, and this weekend's guest driver, the Austrian, Martin Konrad.

We watch the replay of the most recent incident.  37 laps now complete, 105 miles.  Froggatt tries the outside, but he was tagged into the spin by the Porsche and the #93 Mercedes has considerable front end damage being repaired by the team as we speak.  Check that.  It is the Mad Panda #90 with a squashed nose.  So, it could be game over for the #90 making it a sad panda instead of a mad panda.  Well, maybe a little of both emotions.  The incident has been noted by the stewards as Steijn Schothorst is 4/10ths of a second out of range of Schothorst.  Ferrari #51 and Iron Lynx are in recovery mode, wondering what might have been.  Christopher Mies wants to speed the long way around Steijn Schothorst but he is having none of it and keeps the Audi at bay.

Mies showing his tenacity because he knows he has his chance of a best result of the season and also knows he is not letting a bloke like Steijn Schothorst stand in his way.  Rival race cars and drivers are meant to be passed and that is the only reason they are put on the road in the first place.  Stuart White has fallen into the clutches of Daniel Juncadella.  But Juncadella is very much in a static spot.  The trouble for the Albert Costa driven Emil Frey Lamborghini we've been speaking of was due to a fuel nozzle, a recalcitrant fuel nozzle that would not connect from the rig to the filler opening.  Costa, the Spaniard of course took over from Jack Aitken and the other chap in that car is Mirko Bortolotti, one of the best GT3 drivers in the business, for the #63.

Ghiotto is able to find more pace through traffic it looks like and he is moving ahead.  Ghiotto leads and Kelvin van der Linde is a retirement.  He says they had a shifting issue at the end of Charles Weerts' stint.  Stuck in fifth gear, just as we thought.  That's motor racing.  One more endurance race at Barcelona in Spain of course and WRT they really wanted to make it work.  Not today.  Luca Ghiotto is 6.7 seconds up on Steijn Schothorst and guess who is coming calling?  Stuart White, the man is really motoring!  He is "on it" as the late Tom Carnegie, the Public Address announcer who worked at Indianapolis Motor Speedway would say.

Mies has dropped back from the Mercedes, and he is now falling into Stuart White's clutches.  Keep an eye on the rapid South African.  Mies' tires could be knackered as well, or, he could need cooling on the radiator of that Audi.  Mies has been pushing hard and is now paying the price.  Stuart White, we have seen him racing GT3 before but not in competitive cars.  Two Audi's are following Stuart White in the Silver Cup and they are the cars of Cesar Gazeau and Nicholas Scholl.  Nico Scholl and Markus Winkelhock in a couple of the Audi's pass Christian Klien and that says to me that the #111 JP Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3, poor old Klien is not running up to par from where he was earlier in this motor race.

Albert Costa has moved up to 12th but the refueling shemozzle has really delayed him running behind the Barwell Lamborghini which is in a different driving division.  Costa hesitates, worried that he'd get chopped.  Nico Scholl has an opportunity as Steijn Schothorst continues to chase down the leader.  Vincent Abril in the McLaren, look, is fading fast.  The Monagasque could have a car that is not performing to his liking.  Vervisch is losing time to the McLaren.  He cannot go to the inside to make a pass on Abril.  Markus Winkelhock made a pass as well.  Schothorst is chasing down the overall race leader and is edging ahead of Christopher Mies.  The best Porsche in the race is in seventh spot.  That is Alessio Picariello at the controls of the #54 Dinamic Motorsports car.

Abril under attack.  He was doing quicker lap times earlier in the game.  Alfred Renauer is now leading the Gold Cup in the #911 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R taking over from his brother, Robert Renauer.  Scond in the class is Rahel Frey in the #83 Iron Dames Ferrari 488 GT3 followed by Florian Scholze at the wheel of the #5 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 he is sharing with Hubert Haupt, the team and car owner, and Arjun Maini.  #83, Rahel Frey is chasing the Chilean driver Benjamin Hites at the wheel of the #563 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing (VSR) Lambo sharing with Yuki Nemoto of Japan, and Michele Beretta from Italy.

Valentino Rossi says that when he went off the road, the start was tricky because of the narrowness of the track here at Hockenheim.  He lost ten places with the mistake.  Other than that, he was bored during the long safety car, and, he had good pace.  The car is running well and the strategy plan is working well.  WRT are right on the button with the strategy on car #46 as Fred Vervisch and Nico Muller take the car to the finish.  Rossi is honest saying he ran out of road and made a mistake.  He isn't blaming anyone else.  Fred Vervisch passes Vincent Abril and Christopher Mies is catching the #2 Mercedes.

Miguel Ramos, the Portuguese driver, meanwhile, has copped a penalty for causing a collision and will have a five second stop and go in his future, at the next pit stop.  Markus Winkelhock, reeling in Daniel Juncadella.  The team managers of Audi #11 and Lamborghini #27, immediately go see the Race Director.  He wants you to explain yourself and what your team is up to or sign off on some paperwork and I'm sorry, mate.  But he is not offering you a strudel or chocolate when you get to the office.  Juncadella still under real pressure from Markus Winkelhock.  Juncadella running wide through the corner.  Out of race... the #32 WRT Audi with Kelvin van der Linde and Patrick Assenheimer and company in the #90 Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes.

The #46 WRT Audi is also pinged with a penalty for causing a collision.  The usual, a five second penalty at the next pit stop.  Miguel Ramos in the #1888 McLaren, 31st in the overall.  So, a couple five second penalties earned.  If you are the driver not responsible for the penalty, it is frustrating to have to pay for what your co-driver did.  But those are the rules.  in replay, the McLaren of Alexander West did turn Arnold Robin around.  Alexander West was at the controls of the McLaren.  This race has been pretty fractious with the competitiveness of the field and the narrow, tight nature of the Hockenheim track.  

McLaren #188 continues to lead in Pro-Am as well but has the penalty in the future.  Steijn Schothorst is closing in on the race lead and is only four seconds in-arrears.  Schothorst has gotten away from Christopher Mies as Luca Ghiotto continues in the lead, but he can't just take it easy and enjoy the drive.  He has traffic to contend with on all fronts.  Ghiotto was covered by the Sky Tempesta Mercedes which ran wide, and Ghiotto passes him.  Okie dokie then.  Mies is still about 8/10ths of a second behind.  He has pushed so hard that he has probably done a number on his tires and poor old Chris Froggatt is slowing and has to hit the pit lane.

Another bear of a race for the Sky Tempesta Racing Team.  Stuart White is probing and shadowing Christopher Mies.  He is right on the experienced German's six, but just cannot find a way by no matter how hard he tries.  Stuart White, the South African driver, should have an advantage because he can run his own pace.  His pace is not necessarily dictated by the cars ahead of him who he is trying to pass.  Daniel Juncadella in fifth, he does not have the go juice through the Sachs Kurve.  Stuart White, I doff my hat to you, Sir.  He has been giving a former champion in Christopher Mies, all he can handle.  Man, oh man.  If we had a Driver of The Day award in SRO GTWC Europe, Stuart White gets my vote.  White is boatloads quicker than Mies is right now.

Working lap 48.  So, we have now run 136 miles.  Oliver Milroy has the #7 Inception Racing McLaren running third in class in the Gold Cup and Brendon Iribe was in the class lead earlier.  However, pit strategy or pit timing has caused them to drop back a wee bit.  A dozen cars in the Gold Cup and the order has Alfred Renauer, Rahel Frey, Ollie Millroy, Florian Scholze, Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, Lorenzo Ferrari, Patryk Krupinski, Alex Malykhin, Maxime Robin, Benjamin Lessennes, Mike Parisy, and Chris Froggatt is caboose on the field in the class.

Hubert Haupt, meanwhile, comes across the timing line.  Forgive me.  It's Florian Scholze.  He is 26th overall and chasing Ollie Milroy.  Behind these two is the Lamborghini of Isaac Tutumlu Lopez.  Milroy is 1.3 seconds quicker than Florian Scholze.  The Inception Racing McLaren is managed by vastly experienced Belgian driver and team boss, Bas Leinders.  A close shave, and almost into the danger zone for Luca Ghiotto!  Yikes!  Top speeds in turn 12 here at Hockenheim on the present lap have the Lamborghini's fastest.  Albert Costa followed by Arthur Rougier and Baptiste Moulin.  164 kilometers an hour through the traps for Costa (102 and a half miles an hour).  Rougier and Moulin tied at 162 kilometers an hour (101 and a quarter, miles an hour), and then, at 161 clicks (100 and 5/8ths miles an hour), it is both Steijn Schothorst and Charles Weerts.  

Mies is see sawing between how fast he can be in terms of the gap he is behind the leader. Mies catching Schothorst again, look.  We can see proof of what was just illustrated with the speed trap at turn 12 and that is that the Lamborghini's have the oomph, the power, through that turn.  Luca Ghiotto, as we speak, is putting on a clinic right now.  He passes Alex Malykhin's Porsche and puts more daylight between himself and Steijn Schothorst.  Under an hour and a half to go so we have reached the halfway mark here at Hockenheim.  Schtohorst, the Dutchman, dodging through traffic and Mies is trapped by a lapped Ferrari and Stuart White continues his pursuit.

No gains or losses there.  Going to the inside through traffic in the stadium section is really your only choice as a driver.  Second, third, and fourth are the same as they've been the last few laps.  Due to traffic Schothorst is now 2.3 seconds behind Luca Ghiotto.  A change though for fifth spot as Markus Winkelhock moves ahead of Daniel Juncadella.  The Mercedes does not have the amount of pace they need this weekend.  Gracious.  Juncadella is having a bear of a time right now struggling to get past the clump of cars ahead.  Alessio Picariello and Fred Vervisch are both closing in.  I wonder because the Mercedes is just struggling like crazy right now.

Fred Vervisch is monstering Picariello who in turn is monstering Juncadella.  Markus Winkelhock is up to fifth and on the charge right now.  Riding the curb in turn one, he is at his very best right now.  Juncadella is very upset.  It is like he has the hand brake on.  Is something wrong in the handling department for the Benz?  It very well could be.  #88 is dropping like a stone as Steijn Schothorst is still leading the motor race with less than 90 minutes to go.  There must be something wrong with #88.  It has been lethargic and like a turtle, all weekend.  Alessio Picariello is pushing hard.  Albert Costa has recovered to ninth place after a slow pit stop earlier in the game.

Vervisch wants to go for it past the Ferrari.  Three wide!  Vervisch does enough to get through that log jam.  Now, Christopher Mies also is making his presence known.  #2's performance has also drained.  Fred Vervisch, at the expense of Alessio Picariello has gone to seventh place.  The Audi's are charging.  Ollie Milroy runs ahead of Benjamin Hites and Rahel Frey in the Gold Cup.  Miguel Molina has brought the sole remaining Iron Lynx Ferrari, the #51 car, to 22nd in the overall.  Juncadella leads Vervisch by 11/10ths of a second.  Mies is coming in a hurry towards Steijn Schothorst as well.  Then, our pal, Stuart White, he is still pushing and giving Christopher Mies fits!

Raffaele Marciello says that the Akkodis ASP team is unaware of any trouble with the car.  Dani Juncadella is very quick and doing all he can.  Marciello also languished during his stint.  The handling, the grip, in that Mercedes is lacking.  Mies still going for it, running right over the curbs.  Winkelhock, Mies, and White, they are having the race of the season for each of them.  Winkelhock is on a mission up to Spitzkehre.  Catching is one thing and passing is something entirely different as we are 55 laps into the race, 156 miles.  Catch and pass in one move or use the traffic to your advantage.  Winkelhock clearly has to use the traffic to get past Stuart White.  Markus Winkelhock is the second driver in the rotation for the #66 Attempto Racing Audi.  He took over from Kim-Luis Schramm and Dennis Marschall will drive stint three and finish the race.

Well, well, well.  As I was explaining the strategy for the #66, have a gander at this, as finally, Christopher Mies makes his move!  He passes Steijn Schothorst.  Stuart White wants it but no.  White slams the door in Winkelhock's face too.  At the exit of Sachs Kurve, oh my gosh!  This is all happening now.  Look at the gap Mies is eking out on everyone else.  White and Winkelhock have to hustle to close up the gap.  Turn six is a pivotal corner on this circuit and we have seen that more than once today.  Mies the cork in the bottle through traffic.  Winkelhock far more experienced than is White, but Stuart White, once more, is proving himself on this day.

Mies has to watch his step trying to make this pass down the front straight.  Stuart White will now be delayed as Sebastien Baud in the Mercedes gets lapped.  Baud aboard the fuchsia-colored Mercedes, the #3 GetSpeed entry the Frenchman shares with Canadian Jeff Kingsley and the Dane Valdemar Eriksen.  Audi #99, the Attempto Racing Silver class entry with Nicholas Scholl at the controls, he is 12th in the overall and third in Silver.  White, meanwhile, is sizing up Winkelhock.  He gets past the #66 car.  Mies has caused Schothorst to crack like an egg.  Poor old Steijn Schothorst has to be kicking himself.  Mies is stuck in traffic.

Winkelhock is pushing hard.  He is having a go at Stuart White.  He will relish this opportunity but needs to be closer.  In the meantime, Christopher Mies is allowed space by Mercedes #3.  That is the car we've mentioned with Sebastien Baud driving.  Poor old Schothorst ran too fast into the Sachs Kurve.  Well, well, well.  This is indeed a replay as Schothorst goes too high through the turn.  But I repeat myself.  White, sideways, and Winkelhock does make the move.  The Lamborghini, totally on the lock stops through that turn and gues who else is back at the party?  Showing up totally uninvited are Fred Vervisch and Daniel Juncadella!

Another chap fading is Vincent Abril.  Something may be going well awry for the JP Motorsports McLaren.  Could the handling or the tires on that car be going away?  Vervisch is closing up on Juncadella.  In replay, how sideways is the Lamborghini?  He was ice skating through that turn!  Stuart White was sliding!  Holy smokes!  Two wheel drift!  Juncadella has repelled Vervisch for the time being.  44 of the 49 cars that started are still running.  Tires can stabilize.  Why was that slide possible?  I think it comes down to traction and to tire life, honestly.  Markus Winkelhock is still chasing Steijn Schtohorst as well.

Isaac Tutumlu Lopez almost slides off the road at the Sachs Kurve.  Juncadella ekes out a gap on Vervisch out of Sud Kurve.  Miguel Molina has marched his way to 20th place in the overall after the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari was having all kinds of trouble earlier.  What could have been, for both Iron Lynx Ferrari's as Manuel Maldonado is his next target.  Maldonado, brother of Pastor Maldonado who has one Formula 1 victory to his credit, Manuel Maldonado and his family, originally from Venezuela but now a British national, domiciled in and racing under a UK license.  Miguel Molina, now a factory Ferrari GT3 racer, formerly a DTM racer for Audi back in the Class 1 touring car days.

Alfred Renauer, 21st in the overall, leading the Gold Cup division is chasing after Axcil Jeffries, the Zimbabwean driver, as Molina moves to 18th spot passing Maldonado in the McLaren.  Markus Winkelhock continues closing up on Steijn Schothorst for third place.  Winkelhock has strengths in a certain part of the track towards the finish line, the third sector shall we say.  Winkelhock too far back.  Get the exit of the corner, and bide your time, but then dive to the inside.  Poor old Dani Juncadella has been passed by both Vervisch and Picariello.  Will the marshals look at that pass as a racing incident?  Hopefully they will.

Winkelhock is all over the tail of the #2 car like a cheap suit.  For the last two laps, Christopher Mies has been catching Luca Ghiotto hand over fist and for the last two laps he has reduced the gap from 4.5 seconds to 3.1 seconds.  Stuart White in fifth has dropped away and now Fred Vervisch in the #46 Audi is beginning to turn it on as well.  Nico Muller will take the car to the flag as we are about a dozen minutes away from the final round of scheduled pit stops in this race.  Winkelhock is hoping to catch the traffic to have an advantage over Schothorst and we can see Winkelhock might not have the pace without that raffic.  He goes deep and is trying to be brave into the corner, but no.

Schothorst forces Winkelhock wide.  Vervisch is the fastest man in the top six.  White and Vervisch are still going like the clappers here as we have a slow car and it looks like the #188.  That is the Garage 59 McLaren crawling on the road.  That should be Miguel Ramos, the Portuguese driver, at the wheel of it.  But he is in a spot of bother as we speak.  Miguel Ramos is all over the road, meandering down the middle of the road.  Pull over, mate.  He's looking at the gauges and trying to start the car.  He has also lost the lead in the Pro-Am class and Stefano Constantini has made the pass in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari.

Constantini sharing that car of course with Andrea Bertolini and Louis Machiels.  Steijn Schothorst and Markus Winkelhock remain glued together and now, Stuart White has caught them both.  Winkelhock gains but going in the corner he gets stymied until, bang, he tries, but no.  Hes not done yet, look.  To the inside at turn seven and into eight.  White and Vervisch are going for t too and Winkelhock is just not going anyplace.  Steijn Schothorst is doing all he can but runs wide at Sachs Kurve and this will allow Winkelhock to pass.  Schothorst throws away three places.

Maybe he braked too late and overcooked it into the turn.  So that allows three cars to make the pass and poor Schothorst is down the order.  Yellow flag in sector two.  Trouble for car #8.  That is the AGS Events Lamborghini Huracan GT3 being shared by the all-French team of Mike Parisy, Loris Cabirou, and Nicolas Gomar.  Parisy is the one in strife at the controls.  Game over.  Alessio Picariello is really going for it and wants to go by Steijn Schothorst.  Schothorst has clag all over his tires as well having cleaned them up over the lap but went really wide.  His tires are losing grip or he had brake fade and the car could not stop properly.

Alessio Picariello will gain before the end of his stint.  Albert Costa hit the lane in the #63 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini.  Vervisch is doing all he can to pass the McLaren and does so.  Stuart White follows and he won't just roll over and play dead.  Vervisch needs to get away from the traffic and of course the sword of Damocles is hanging over that car, a penalty on the next pit stop for five seconds.  Here's it all again, look, into Sachs Kurve as Porsche #54 is giving the #2 Mercedes fits.  Alessio Picariello is giving Steijn Schothorst the rough end of the pineapple here.

Dani Juncadella is steaming into the pit lane.  His mystery stint is over and Akkodis ASP will have Jules Gounon finish this race.  Fuel added and tires changed.  It never looked quick from the moment it left the lane with Juncadella at the controls.  The lead gap is now 1.9 seconds.  It had ballooned earlier to 4.7 seconds and now, Christopher Mies is closing in, fast, on Luca Ghiotto.  No traffic ahead.  The Barwell Lamborghini #77 is in the lane and so is the #911 Herberth Motorsports Porsche.  The black and orange "meatball" flag is issued to the #31 WRT Audi R8 for a loose rear wing.

Mies to the lane and the team is going to change drivers.  Patric Niederhauser is the bullet they need to continue the chase.  It sounds like Niederhauser will be more effective in this scrap than Mies.  OK.  That settles it.  Tires go on and fuel goes in the tank.  Mies' best lap was a 1:39 dead.  A 1:39.017.  Fred Vervisch, too, is into the pit lane for service and I think he will hand car #46 over to Nico Muller for the last stint.  'Tis true.  Also, the #2 Mercedes is in.  Steijn Schothorst out and Luca Stolz in for the finish.  The lead gap is six and a half seconds between Ghiotto and Winkelhock.

Niederhauser goes out of the lane ahead of Luca Stolz.  Stolz will lose time and has much work to do.  He is also passed by the Porsche and Nico Muller is back to where Vervisch started.  Jules Gounon goes past Alessio Picariello!  Wow!  Jules Gounon is flying and now, Luca Ghiotto pits the #12.  Driver change for them and a driver change for the #66 Attempto Audi to Dennis Marschall.  You need your quickest driver in for the final stint of the race.  Niederhauser is monstering the #7 McLaren, the Inception Racing car ahead.  Side by side and now, Niederhauser has taken the lead.  Christopher Haase will be second and he runs wide not able to clear the McLaren!

Christopher Haase is really in a sticky situation.  Fnally he does get past.  Haase had to be freaking out there.  Patric Niederhauser leads the motor race.  Luca Ghiotto led but Car Collection now drops behind Sainteloc and where is Dennis Marschall in the #66 Attempto Audi?  We need to find Jules Gounon in all of this shuffling too because it looks like he has fallen back behind the Porsche, the #54 Dinamic Motorsports car currently still in the hands of Alessio Picariello.  Check that.  A driver change for #54.  Picariello would have finished his stint and so it is now Matteo Cairoli, the Italian, at the wheel of it.  

We are starting the 68th lap of the motor race.  Therefore, we will complete 193 miles at the end of this particular lap.  The second of the Car Collection team Audi R8's has completed a pit stop.  But car #11, that one has smoke billowing from it and did so even during the last part of the stop.  Trouble in paradise for the trio of Italian Lorenzo Patrese (son of Formula 1 and sports car veteran Ricardo Patrese), Dutchman Thierry Vermeulen, and Frenchman Hugo Valente.  The car is still smoking.  Could oil or fluid of some sort be leaking onto the exhaust?  Or is it an issue with hot brakes?

Stuart White is the erstwhile race leader ahead of Nicholas Scholl.  The BMW M4 GT3's which we haven't talked about all day, are third and fourth presently with Dan Harper and Nicky "The Cat" Catsburg.  Harper is third but due to pit soon.  He is the lead BMW M4 GT3.  Mirko Bortolotti goes purple having taken over the delayed #63 Emil Frey Lamborghini.  Fastest lap being volleyed around and it goes to Dennis Marschall in the #66 Audi.  Jules Gounon is pressing Matteo Cairoli right now but has not made an inch on him.  The #88 Mercedes just has not had the pace.  Mirko Bortolotti now earns fastest lap.

Luca Stolz in the meantime is closing in on Jules Gounon.  This race has been very, very busy, after that half hour safety car scramble at the very beginning.  Hockenheim has given us a lot to see.  That was the point of redesigning the track and shortening it up.  Well, 20 years on, the design is doing what it's intended.  The Porsche nor the Mercedes, today, have set the world on fire.  But they are still in it.  They are still up at the pointy end.  Ollie Milroy is pitting the #7 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 from the lead of the Gold Cup.  We have seen Lamborghini and Audi really come to the fore today.  Stuart White continues to lead over Nico Scholl.

White is set to hand the #14 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini to Austrian Mick Wishofer for the final stint of the motor race and we'll have to see how he does.  Mick Wishofer's name is one I am hearing for the very first time.  Adam Eteki in the #10 Boutsen Ginion Racing Audi R8 is also showing his hand and he was quick in the wet Free Practice session the day before this race on Saturday.  Eteki, the Frenchman, sharing with Benjamins Lessennes of Belgium, and Karim Ojjeh, the Swiss domiciled Saudi Arabian driver.  Nico Scholl brings the #99 Audi to the lane for it's final stop and Alex Aka will take the car to the finish, Marius Zug having started the race.

The #30 Audi has not been a contender today either.  We can legitimately say Patric Niederhauser is quicker than Christopher Mies and he uncorked a quicker lap on lap 70 of this motor race.  Audi vs. Audi for the final podium place as Christopher Haase is chipping away at Patric Niederhauser and furthermore, Dennis Marschall in another Audi is also back there.  With 52 minutes left on the board, your effective lead battle here at Hockenheim is down to Patric Niederhauser vs. Christopher Haase.  Youth vs. experience.  Christopher Haase has caught Niederhauser.  BMW #50 for the Junior Team is in the lane with Dan Harper at the controls.  They are doing a great job too.

Stuart White is getting to the end of his stint.  He has run for 63 minutes out of 65 minutes allowable per stint.  Manuel Maldonado, the Venezuelan will hand over the #159 Garage 59 McLaren to Dean MacDonald of England, for the final stint.  Stuart White in the lane aboard the #14 and will hand that Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini to Mick Wishofer.  Stuart White, kudos to you, mate.  He just drove the stint of his life.  The stint of his career.  Wow!  The plot doth thicken again, look.  Trouble in paradise for the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes as the #2 car for GetSpeed goes by!  

Luca Stolz passes Jules Gounon for seventh spot.  Gounon momentarily loses momentum, and you'd think, well, the car has an obvious problem, doesn't it?  But then he has full steam again.  Gounon stays on track.  That's brave.  What in the world is going on at Akkodis ASP?  Mick Wishofer, exiting the lane he has fallen way down to the back of the queue and essentially, he's a shot duck for his stint because all the heavy hitters have gone by.  What happened at Emil Frey Racing?  That pit stop was 66 seconds and not calamitously slow.  But it was a real bear and faster drivers sooner into their cars, have been able to buy back time.  

Stuart White drove an amazing stint.  But also give a call to Konsta Lappalainen for his opening stint.  He was right in the thick of it.  Niederhauser leads Haase, but his lead is expanding.  Haase lost time rattling over the curbs.  Dennis Marschall is now third and the gap between Niederhauser and Marschall is 4.6 seconds.  Overall top speeds at turn seven, we can see that Maciej Blazek the Polish driver in the #112 JP Motorsports McLaren is fastest at 224 kilometers an hour, (140 miles an hour), followed by both Ollie Milroy and his teammate at JP Motorsports, Vincent Abril, at 223 kilometers an hour (139 and 3/8ths miles an hour), and then, at 222 kilometers an hour (138 and 3/4 miles an hour) it is tied between the #31 WRT Audi of Lewis Proctor and the #159 Garage 59 McLaren in the hands of Nicolai Kjaergaard.  

So, lately, the McLaren's have been ruling the roost in the top speeds department.  Surprising to see Proctor in the mix as well, sharing the #31 WRT Audi with fellow Brit Finlay Hutchinson, and Mexican driver Diego Menchaca.  Niederhasuer and Haase are coming up on lapped traffic.  Niederhauser will get stymied behind the lapped cars and then Haase may very well pounce.  Jules Gounon in the meantime is falling into the clutches of Luca Stolz in that Mercedes battle.  Audi, Audi, Mercedes, Mercedes.  Dennis Marschall is someone who bears mentioning because he is lapping quicker than the two chaps in front of him.  We know that the #88 Mercedes has just not had any of the pace that they showed in their dominating win at the 24 Hours of Spa at the end of July.

Marschall, in clear air, has track knowledge here at Hockenheim.  Haase is still closing up on Niederhauser.  Haase has the experience but even so, Niederhauser is not losing his cool.  He's staying right where he needs to be.  Mick Wishofer is ninth in the overall and leading the Silver division.  The #111 JP Motorsports McLaren is also coming back into the frame with Dennis "The Menace" Lind, from Denmark at the controls.  Lind used to be really competitive when he was driving Lamborghini's and now in a McLaren can he get himself into the fight?  Alex Aka in the #99 Attempto Racing Audi is second in Silver.

The performances of both Akkodis ASP Mercedes and WRT Audi here at Hockenheim in their home race on home soil, has been lackluster at best.  Thank you, John Watson, for point out that despite their rough day at the office, the #88 Mercedes will score points against the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari that went out of the motor race early doors.  Third place in Silver is the #26 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi currently in the hands of Belgian Nicolas Baert.  He shares the car with French drivers Aurelien Panis and Cesar Gazeau.  Panis, the son of Formula 1 veteran and 1996 Monaco Grand Prix winner, for Ligier, Olivier Panis.  

Mercedes #88 in spite of their travails will come out of Hockenheim smelling like a rose because they have made it through the bulk of the race while the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari retired with 14 laps on the board, most of which recall, were covered under safety car conditions in the up and down seesawing opening hour we had in this race.  12th overall and no signs of throwing in any towels, Mirko Bortolotti keeps pushing aboard the #63 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini.  Of course, Bortolotti is the gun driver alongside Jack Aitken and Albert Costa.  

Next up, the Gold Cup leader, Robert Renauer in the #911 Herberth Motorsports Porsche which has had a solid race all day long.  Quick, reliable, consistent.  The Herberth boys much like they did for a long, long time in the Creventic long distance endurance series, they've been ticking all the boxes today.  Second in class is the #7 Inception Racing McLaren with Frederik Schandorff of Denmark taking it to the flag.  The leaders are working lap 76, (216 miles), and now Alessandro Balzan, the rapid veteran Italian driver is third in the Gold Cup in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari.  Balzan has been driving a GT Ferrari in one championship or another for many years now.  He shares that car with Frenchman Hugo Delacour (now racing under Italian licensure), and Monagasque Cedirc Sbirrazzuoli.  

Nico Muller in the #46 VR46/WRT Audi is slower than Jules Gounon right now.  Pro-Am is now led by the #52 AF Corse Ferrari with Andrea Bertolini of Italy driving.  Dominik Baumann, the Austrian, is second in Pro-Am in the #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG GT3.  Henrique Chaves in the Garage 59 McLaren #188 is back on track and scoring points.  Baumann has experience not just here in SRO GTWC Europe, but also in ADAC GT Masters.  Patric Niederhauser is a second clear over Christopher Haase, and now, Dennis Marschall is chasing him down as well, eating chunks out of the gap.  Haase and Niederhauser have uncorked best laps and the current drivers have cut the best laps for the top six or so cars.

You have Patric Niederhauser, Christopher Haase, Dennis Marschall, Alessio Picariello, Luca Stolz, and Jules Gounon, each accomplishing that feat.  Dirty all over the exit of turn six and through seven and eight.  Dust and clag all over the Pirelli P Zero tires.  Smoke someplace.  Is that a car?  Is that a barbecue?  Luca Stolz is out of sequence here, look, because between he and Jules Gounon, is the Adam Eteki driven Audi, the #10 car for Boutsen Racing.  A white flag is being shown, to indicate a slow -moving car, and it is again the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari.  This team will want to erase Hockenheim from their memory bank immediately and move forward.

A left rear puncture for the #51 Ferrari.  Nicklas Nielsen is at the controls and maybe the car will not turn.  He is in limp home mode with a flat left rear tire.  He ran very wide and look at the smoke pouring off the car!  Wow!  A day of woe for Iron Lynx continues.  Nico Muller is still trapped behind Adam Eteki who has become the cork in the bottle.  Funny enough of course, Eteki was blindingly quick in Free Practice in the wet, on Saturday morning.

Let's hope the damage to that Ferrari is restricted to the tire, and the bodywork and that it hasn't gotten into the suspension or the ansillary mechanical systems on the car.  That car may very well be on it's way to a retirement.  Niederhauser in the meantime, is scything through traffic.  Michelle Gatting is doing her best to make a pass on a Porsche ahead, but to no avail.  Haase wants by both the Ferrari and the Porsche, and no matter the make and model, the performance of these GT3 cars is fairly equal.  Haase remains stuck.  Marschall is coming in a hurry.

To the inside, Gatting passes the Porsche.  Wow.  Where's the blue flag?  Haase has to dive past a backmarker and Marschall has made his move but the Ferrari is now all over the back of Marschall.  Haase clears the Porsche and Hugo Valente in the second Car Collection Audi #11 has clattered into the gravel and the tires.  It is a long way off the road.  We might need a Full Course Yellow.  He lost it in a spin.  Maybe he made contact with another car.  Local yellow.  Ah.  5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Full Course Yellow, now, with 37 minutes left.  Wow.  This race has just gone nonstop, and I guess we don't need any energy drinks for this one!

This is not a safety car scramble.  It is a Full Course Yellow to recover the car and we might go to safety car conditions in a few minutes or so.  The track seems to be clear.  Sheesh!  This race has been bananas.  This Audi is stuck in the tire bales and in the gravel and we will be waiting for about ten minutes.  Patric Niederhauser leading the motor race as we said.  Niederhauser won the German GT Championship in 2019.  Niederhauser was champion in Formula Abarth in 2011, so Fiat powered single seaters, and he got as far as GP3 before deciding open wheel racing was not for him and he would be better off in a sports car.  He is using the traffic to his advantage and leading by 3.3 seconds.

There is one back marker between Niederhauser and Haase.  A noted incident between #77 and #11.  #77 is the Barwell Lamborghini of Patrick Kujala making contact with the #11 Audi of Hugo Valente.  Slowly but safely the car is being recovered.  In replay, he did get tagged, and... bang, right into the tire barriers.  The driver has to clamber across the other side of the car with all the equipment installed in the passenger's seat.  So, the safety car is deployed which bunches up the field before the restart.  Dennis Marschall continues to run in third spot.  Sainteloc, Car Collection by Tresor, Sainteloc, and WRT.

WRT will be racing for BMW next year.  Car Collection, Attempto, and Sainteloc could be candidates for factory support for next year.  Safety car in this lap.  Christopher Mies, with half an hour to go, he says that it was expected this race would be eventful and it will be interesting in the last half hour.  Their pace is strong and he could have passed the leaders.  Motorsport is a fickle thing.  Christopher Mies has won everything possible in a GT3 car.  Championships, and the big races like the Bathurst 12 Hours and the Nurburgring 24 Hours.  Christopher Mies has been running the endurance races in SRO GTWC Europe.

Lights out on the dsafety car and Patric Niederhauser will have Christopher Haase all over him.  Matteo Cairoli in the Porsche is next in line and that car must have a transponder issue because Alessio Picariello's name is listed in the scoring pylon but he has already run his stint for the day.  Watch for Dennis Marschall.  Green flag.  Go!  Marschall is not close enough yet and Haase has taken off and the Lamborghini, a lapped car, is also very quick.  Matteo Cairoli is being harried by Luca Stolz for fourth place.  The speed of the Lamborghini is incredible!  Both cars have the same engine, the 5.2 liter normally aspirated V10 motor.

Niederhauser is clear but the fourth-place scrap is a traffic jam!  Oh my.  Pick the bones out of this one!  Stolz, Picariello, Gounon, Nico Muller, Mick Wishofer, Mirko Bortolotti, and so on.  Dennis Lind is also back there.  Forgot about Dennis "The Menace", but he will have something to say too before this race is done and dusted.  Muller goes ahead of Gounon and Dennis Lind is monstering Gounon as well.  If you lose places, you lose points.

Muller passes Gounon through the hairpin.  Haase and Marschall are fighting for second while Niederhauser has clear track in the lead and he won't catch traffic in ten laps.  He has a Sunday drive ahead.  Mirko Bortolotti, too, he has caught Mick Wishofer, his team mate, in a separate class.  Marschall wants it out ot he hairpin, and they have a little argy bargy and Haase runs wide over the curb but has the preferred line.  Marschall runs wide!  OK.  This is not done yet.  Haase can consolidate his spot into Sachs Kurve.  Niederhauser is scampering away.  85 laps now complete.  241 and a half miles.  Niederhauser is moving ahead.  Jules Gounon has plummeted to eighth in class.

He is in the danger zone of being dropped out of the points.  Matteo Cairoli holds fourth place being chased by Luca Stolz.  Nico Muller in fifth place is also very quick.  Four Audi's in the top six places run by four different teams.  Haase driving to the very edge of the road to stay ahead of Marschall.  No backmarkers can help either Haase or Marschall as Stolz is being monstered by Muller through turns three and four and into the Parabolika and the Sptizkehre.  Haase still being chased by Marschall while Matteo Cairoli is caught in traffic.  Marschall is pushing Haase.  Stolz leads Muller with Lind right behind him.

The Balance of Performance is such that the margin is half a second even between two identical cars.  Marschall is too far back to make a lunge.  Nico Muller wants by the Mercedes of Stolz I believe.  Oh dear.  Muller tries it and can't quite make it work.  He is keeping Luca Stolz honest while Dennis Lind is right on Muller's six.  Gounon has plummeted to 20th!  The championship leading car has trouble!  Mercedes #88 is in trouble!  We see the sister #87 but that is not the one we are looking for.  We are looking to see where Gounon is.  Iron Lynx will be fine.  Barcelona in a month is going to be bonkers!  Tune in if you can.

Tomaso Mosca, the Spaniard, is driving the sister Akkodis ASP Mercedes, the #87.  The Italian is teamed with Frenchman Thomas Drouet and Brit Casper Stevenson.  Gounon is stranded on the road someplace and we will undoubtedly need a safety car scramble to rescue him.  Muller tries making a pass but can't get by.  We can see #88 stopped on the road and if he does not get moving, well, the inevitable will be another Full Course Yellow.  Jules Gounon, dead stick.  That car is in a dangerous spot on the circuit.  Mercedes #2 has gone by Audi #46 of Nico Muller and now Dennis Lind will be pushing.

I cannot believe they are not putting out a Full Course Yellow as Lind makes a move.  OK.  We are jolly lucky we can stay green because a snatch vehicle has been deployed to rescue the Mercedes and tow it to safety.  Game over for the #88 car.  Akkodis ASP after their dominant Spa 24 Hours victory, will be crushed.  That's motor racing.  Some days you are the windshield and other days, you are the bug.  What a wild race we have seen!  Only seven retirements and this race is still bananas!  A slow Porsche, someplace, working lap 90.

Stolz, Muller, Lind.  Akkodis ASP, no comment, about the recent incident.  Two championship contenders fail to score and so does the #32 WRT Audi.  The less favored cars are shining today.  Patric Niederhauser with 17 minutes to go, is your leader.  Wishofer leads Silver from Alex Aka and Nicolas Baert.  A spin here, look, for the #8 Lamborghini.  This is the Gold Cup division car, for AGS Events, in the hands of Frenchman Loris Cabirou.  He is sufficiently off the road with a local yellow covering the corner.  He spun under braking all by his lonesome.  Loris Cabirou had snap oversteer and he sprints away.  Jules Gounon is trudging back to the garage.

Nil points for Akkodis ASP.  The car was fading in Juncadella's stint and it is out.  Niederhauser leads by 2.9 seconds and Dennis Lind is in pit lane with trouble from seventh.  Ugh.  The car is going to the garage.  Game over for the #111 JP Motorsports McLaren.  What a waste.  Nico Muller then, he is within striking distance to Luca Stolz.  92 laps, 261 miles completed.  Niederhauser is in control in front.  Nico Muller is sixth and we will see Valentino Rossi getting his nest result of the year and now, Dennis Marschall is catching Christopher Haase.

He is in the draft.  Haase using the middle of the track to break the draft and forcing him the long way 'round.  Marschall has more grip and makes the pass.  Wow!  Haase may have a flat tire, or maybe it is just an optical illusion.  Marschall will be able to sprint away and then Matteo Cairoli will be on Haase's gearbox before this race ends.  Stolz and Muller still slugging it out for fifth and Christopher Haase is fading fast.  He has a puncture and he can't turn!  Audi Sport Customer Racing boss Chris Reinke looking on.

Game over for #12.  Niederhauser, Marschall, Cairoli, Stolz, and Muller.  More shuffling going on too.  Wow.  In replay, Haase goes off over the curb and something happeened where the car immediately began slowing down.  The car did not want to turn and it was a slow puncture.  Dennis Lind says that he retired due to a technical issue on the car in sector three and they will look ahead to Valencia, to the finale.  Audi #46 is battered and bashed, with a few battle scars from the race today.  Nico Muller is not giving up and now, Muller tries passing Luca Stolz and he can't do it.  Matteo Cairoli in the Porsche is up to third.  This is not an Audi whitewash here at Hockenheim today.

Game over for Christopher Haase.  A terrible end to the race for Audi Sport Team Car Collection.  McLaren's are ruling the roost in the VMAX top speed category.  Ftederic Schandorff at 273 kilometers an hour (170 and 5/8ths miles an hour), followed by a tie for second between Dennis Lind and Dean MacDonald at 271 kilometers an hour (169 and 3/8ths miles an hour), and Norbert Siedler in another McLaren at 270 kilometers an hour (168 and 3/4 miles an hour) tied at that same speed with the Porsche for Herberth Motorsports, car #911 with Robert Renauer at the wheel of it.  

This is the Parabolika to hairpin speed trap.  Maeschall has a chumk of time to make up.  Nico Muller is doing all he knows to try and catch the Mercedes of Luca Stolz.  Under acceleration he can't make it.  Mick Wishofer for Emil Frey Racing leads Silver and he was passed by Mirko Bortolotti and is four seconds ahead of Alex Aka.  Mirko Bortolotti uncorks fastest lap of the race.  A personal best sector by Dennis Marschall, but he is behind by 4.3 seconds.  Catching is one thing and passing is another.  Can Niederhauser run down Marschall?  96 laps now completed.  

Andrea Bertolini leading Pro-Am in the Ferrari, taking over from Louis Machiels.  Where is the Mercedes of Dominik Baumann?  He is closing in a hurry.  More dust kicked up.  Six and a half minutes to go.  Andrea Bertolini must have a pension from Ferrari.  That is how experienced he is in a GT car.  Baumann though might just catch Bertolini, and the German is quicker by far.  More top speed measurements into the stadium section.  Albert Costa and Jules Gounon tied at the top at 164 kilometers an hour (102 and a half miles an hour).  Ryuichi Tomita in the Audi and Mikkel Pedersen in the Porsche are tied for third at 163 clicks (101.875 miles an hour), and then comes the Audi of Patric Niederhauser at 162 kilometers an hour (101 and a quarter miles an hour).

Muller/Vervisch/Rossi, the trio is headed for their best endurance result.  Dominik Baumann continues chasing Andrea Bertolini.  The McLaren's again rule the roost for top speeds at corner seven.  Only an Audi is also in the sandwich.  224 kilometers an hour (140 miles an hour) for Maciej Blazek.  223 kilometers an hour (139 and 3/8ths miles an hour), for Ollie Milroy and Vincent Abril.  Then comes Lewis Proctor in the Audi #31 at 222 kilometers an hour (138 and 3/4 miles an hour), tied with the other McLaren of Nicolai Kjaergaard.  Not the expected names in those cars.

Dominik Baumann is gaining on Bertolini.  Niederhauser leads with less than five minutes to go as Dennis Marschall has brought the gap down to 3.8 seconds.  I don't think Marschall will catch Niederhauser.  Baumann though is bearing down on Bertolini.  What can he do?  Three laps to go.  Can the Italian keep the Austrian at bay?  This is for all the marbles.  Big dive through traffic and that is the fight between Luca Stolz and Nico Muller.  He is committed but running out of options.  Stolz has traffic ahead as the clock is running out.  Will traffic be the arbiter?  The Mercedes and Audi are even Steven for now.

But this will get spicy to the end.  The backmarkers are in the way.  One lap to go now.  Muller to the inside but no.  He has track position.  We'll have to see what happens in turns seven and eight as Baumann is right on Bertolini's tail!  Not close enough.  Bertolini holds it under control and has caught the traffic inclduing the Inception McLaren;.  Muller did not pass Stolz.  Niederhauser on his final lap.  He, Christopher Mies, and Lucas Legeret are going to be the winners.  Baumann is doing all he can to rattle Bertolini who is sideways!  Wow!  Final lap of the motor race.  This is it.

Throw caution to the wind.  What a motor race!  What a motor race!  Wow!  Patric Niederhauser is on his way to a win.  Sainteloc are overdue for a victory.  They have won the 24 Hours of Spa and the Indianapolis 8 Hours and now they are winners at Hockenheim!  Bertolini and Baumann.  One corner to go in Pro-am.  Nose to tai;l.  Baumann can't make it.  Bertolini and Ferrari win Pro-Am!  Holy cow!  That was for 30th overall but for a class win.  Time to catch a collective breath!  Limping in, in Gold, Robert Renuaer limps to the line with a puncture on the final lap.  McLaren win Gold!  Herberth will be gutted!  

It is the second Gold Cup win in 2022 for Inception Racing and McLaren having also taken honors at Paul Ricard in France.  

Overall/Pro Cup: #25 Legeret/Mies/Niederhauser     Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo II.

             Silver Cup: #14 Lappalainen/White/Wishofer   Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo

             Pro-Am Cup: #52 Bertolini/Constantini/Machiels     AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020

             Gold Cup: #7 Iribe/Milroy/Schandorff     Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3

...And then, there was one.  The 3 Hours of Barcelona at Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain, will wrap up the 2022 SRO GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.  That race is in less than a month right at the beginning of October.  Join us in Barcelona for a climactic finale.  We'll see you, next time.