Mercedes Scores First Ever Win in Nürburgring 24 Hours After Delayed Race

The 2013 Nürburgring 24 Hours was a race of firsts. Mercedes-Benz scored its first ever overall win in the Nürburgring 24 Hours with the #9 Black Falcon SLS AMG GT3Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3Germany, 2011 > present19 photos
team driven by Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Sean Edwards and Nicki Thiim. 

The Mercedes win was even more special when considering that most of the driving was done by Schneider and Edwards. The race was stopped during the night because of extremely heavy rain. It restarted at 8:00am local time, but Bleekemolen had already left because his wife was giving birth to twins. Schneider and Edwards did all of the driving after the restart. 

Schneider, despite being an accomplished touring car driver, had never finished a Nürburgring 24 Hours. His first finish is also his first victory. 

Mercedes is the fourth different German marque to win the Nürburgring 24 Hours in four years. BMWBMWGermany, 1918 > present87 models
8471 photos
43 videos
won in 2010; PorschePorscheGermany, 1931 > present43 models
4639 photos
29 videos
won in 2011, and AudiAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
8213 photos
27 videos
won in 2012. 

The #25 BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS BMW Z4 GT3BMW Z4 GT3Germany, 2010 > present7 photos
finished in second place with a career-defining drive by Maxime Martin. His car was in fourth as the final hour of the race began. With about 30 minutes to go, Martin passed the #22 and #23 ROWE Racing SLS AMG GT3s within just a few corners of each other. He held the position for the rest of the race. He also beat the factory-supported BMW Z4 GT3 team by four places. The other drivers in the #25 car were Andrea Piccini, Yelmer Buurman and Richard Göransson.

Third place overall went to the #22 ROWE Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 team. Klaus Graf, Thomas Jäger, Jan Seyffarth and Nico Bastian drove the car.

The red flag for the night reduced the race to half of its usual length. The Black Falcon Mercedes completed 88 laps, compared to 155 laps last year. The record length is 156 laps, which was set in 2011.

The best car not in the SP9 GT3 class was the Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSRPorsche 911 GT3 RSRGermany, 2011 > present10 photos
driven by Porsche factory drivers Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas, Lucas Luhr and Timo Bernhard.