The #4 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra (Haase/Mamerow/Rast/Winkelhock) has won the 2014 Nürburgring 24 Hour race. The car took the lead early on Sunday morning and held that lead for nine hours on its way to victory.

Sunny conditions and mild weather for the duration of the race helped the winners set a new race distance record, covering a total of 159 laps, beating the old mark by three laps.

In second place was the team defending last year’s win, the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 (Bleekemolen/Simonsen/Menzel/Arnold). The car finished on the lead lap but was three minutes behind the race winner.

Third place was taken out by the #22 Rowe Racing Mercedes (Zehe/Hohenadel/Bastian/Engel), which completed 157 laps, also breaking the old distance record. Indeed, the first six cars all did 157 laps or more.

The relative comfort of the win meant the late race excitement was provided by the #007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 and the #20 Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 who were dicing for fifth position during the closing stages. Only a few car lengths separated the pair until a slower car badly baulked the BMW late on the final lap thus ending a breathtaking scrap between the two.

McLaren set the early race pace with the #66 Dörr Motorsport 12C GT3 starting from pole position, alas it was unable to finish the race, completing only 48 laps.