Kevin Estre put his mark on the spectacular 24h Nürburgring start phase 05.06.2021: The first hour of the 49th ADAC TOTAL 24h Race already offered spectacular overtaking and chaotic weather conditions. Frenchman Kevin Estre in the #911 Manthey Porsche fought his way to the front from grid position eleven with several spirited overtaking

The first hour of the 49th ADAC TOTAL 24h Race already offered spectacular overtaking and chaotic weather conditions. Frenchman Kevin Estre in the #911 Manthey Porsche fought his way to the front from grid position eleven with several spirited overtaking manoeuvres and led the classification after the first 60 minutes in the "Green Hell".



Luca Stolz in the #4 HRT-Mercedes-AMG, who had initially taken the lead from fourth on the grid on the first lap, and the #1 Rowe-BMW, in which Nick Catsburg had started from pole position, followed directly in his wake. In the meantime, heavy rainfall caused numerous accidents and Code 60 sections on the track, forcing most teams to change to rain tyres early on.




In the shadow of the leading group, Martin Tomczyk in the second Rowe-BMW with the #98 had worked his way up from 25th on the grid to fourth place and had slotted in behind the sister car. In contrast, the #19 Konrad Lamborghini, which had started the race from second position, had been fitted with new front and rear bumpers after a collision in the pits and had fallen far behind.



The handover of the Glickenhaus Trophy to Nick Yelloly, who had led last year's winners in the #1 Rowe-BMW to pole position on Friday, still took place in the dry half an hour before the race start, as did the first race laps.



First, Luca Stolz caught the leader Nick Catsburg in the #1 on the first Nordschleife lap and initially pulled away. On the fourth lap, however, Estre took the lead before the first heavy shower caused slips on the track after about 35 minutes of racing. After the fifth lap, almost all cars pitted for rain tyres.



Before the start of the ADAC TOTAL 24h Race, the German representatives in the Touring Car World Cup (FIA WTCR) had caused a sensation. Already in qualifying, the Honda team All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport and the Engstler team (Hyundai) showed their strong side, the pole position of Nestor Girolami (ARG) in the All-Inkl.com Honda was followed in the two races by victories of the Portuguese Tiago Monteiro (All-Inkl.com Honda) and Jean-Karl Vernay (FRA, Engstler Hyundai).


Youngster Luca Engstler also caused a stir among the German fans: The driver from Wiggensbach took second place in the second race and thus made it onto the podium on his WTCR debut in front of his home crowd.



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