Nurburgring 24 Hours: BMW leads three-way fight on the Nordschleife

Just one new Audi R8 remains in the hunt for overall victory, since one car has been working its way back from 61st place after a crash in the second hour and two others - including one driven by the 2014 winners - were eliminated in separate incidents during the night.

By first light the WRT-entered #28 Mies/Sandstrom/Muller/Vanthoor R8 LMS, the #25 Martin/Luhr/Westbrook/Palttala Marc VDS BMW Z4 and the #44 Dumbreck/Henzler/Ragginger/Imperatori Falken Porsche 911 were taking turns in the lead as each headed for the pits.

Running in the clear, the BMW leads by just over two minutes from the Audi, with the Porsche 37 seconds further down the road.

The delayed #26 Marc VDS BMW and #5 Black Falcon Mercedes are a lap down and running a minute apart.

Rain in the eighth hour proved highly disruptive as the #19 BMW that had been running in the top three skidded off at Dottinger Hohe and hit the barriers with Dirk Werner at the wheel, and the #30 Frikadelli Porsche that had been in the battle for the lead with the #1 Phoenix Audi hit the #31 Mercedes at the Karussel and slammed into the barriers.

The Porsche's driver, Patrick Pilet, was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks.

The Phoenix Audi team had brought both its R8s in for wet tyres and reaped the rewards as the #1 car extended its lead - which it had held, give and take the ebb and flow of pitstops, since the fourth hour - and the #4 car consolidated third place, while the Marc VDS BMW team passed on the opportunity to fit wets to the #26 Z4 and it dropped to fifth.

As the rain eased the Phoenix Audis continued to hold sway until the #4 car made an unscheduled pitstop to investigate an exhaust problem, and it remained in the garage for two hours. Having returned to the fray it subsequently spun off on oil at the Karussel in the 11th hour and retired.

The #1 R8 led from WRT's similar #28 car until shortly after midnight, when Christian Mamerow lost control of #1 just after Pflantzgarten, damaging it too badly to continue. The barriers also required repair under local 'Code 60' yellow-flag zone.

Bentley had the pace to contend for the lead but lost the works #84 Continental after incurring damage in a spin during the eighth hour, while the #85 sister car is currently 95th following a five-hour suspension rebuild to cure accident damage. HTP's #11 Continental is running three laps down in eighth place.

Following earlier dramas, including a spin for Stefan Mucke which caused front-end damage and left it running in 25th place, the #007 Mucke/Turner/LamyAston Martin has risen to 21st.