The Nurburgring “Green Hell” lived up to its nickname at this weekend’s ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, where Porsche and Michelin prevailed at the tough track, interrupted by heavy rain, fog and a red flag.

Ultimately the Manthey Racing quartet took the win, with Fred Makowiecki, Nick Tandy, Patrick Pilet and Richard Lietz sharing the No. 912 Porsche 911 GT3 R. It’s Porsche’s first overall win at the Nurburgring 24-hour race since 2011. Porsche, Mercedes-AMG and Aston Martin all combined to lock out the top five positions for Michelin.

Tandy, Pilet and Makowiecki shared the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, where they won that major endurance race on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar. This marks both Porsche’s and this trio’s second major endurance win of the year.

The line that 24-hour races have in part become sprint races proved true here over the final hour. Black Falcon’s No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 lost a four-minute plus lead that was erased under the red flag, which was displayed due to the rain, fog and unsafe track conditions.

Makowiecki in the No. 912 Porsche made a decisive, forceful pass of Adam Christodoulou’s No. 4 Mercedes at Turn 1. Christodoulou spun slightly on corner exit after clipping the curb, and fell back. The final margin of victory was just 26.413 seconds, a very tight margin after 24 hours.

Der Moment in dem de @manthey_racing @Porsche mit der #912 die Führung übernimmt ? // The moment the Porsche #912 takes the lead ?! #24hNBR pic.twitter.com/EDl4uD2HWJ

— ADAC Zurich 24h-Rennen (@24hNurburgring) May 13, 2018

#24hNBR #N24h @24hNurburgring: @fredmko has taken the lead! And this was the #Porsche #MomentsOfRacing moment in the #Manthey garage: pic.twitter.com/uKSuWNfyaw

— Manthey-Racing (@manthey_racing) May 13, 2018

.@FredMako1 = Hero! Tolle Szenen ? #24hNBR pic.twitter.com/NnK8Om1orq

— ADAC Zurich 24h-Rennen (@24hNurburgring) May 13, 2018

“That was truly a race of the century, simply indescribable under the circumstances: with the rain, the red flag and that incredible final spurt.” said Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Porsche Vice President Motorsport and GT Cars.

“At no other endurance race in the world do you get two drivers sprinting against each other for one and a half hours. Fred secured this triumph with his sensational overtaking maneuver. We hope that Dr. Wolfgang Porsche is pleased with this belated present for his 75th birthday.”

Dirk Mueller, who races for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing in IMSA, was part of the Mercedes lineup that finished second.

A second Black Falcon Mercedes was third, ahead of the venerable Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 in its final Nurburgring 24 start and a third Black Falcon Mercedes in fifth.

Manthey’s other Porsche, the No. 911 car shared by Romain Dumas, Kevin Estre, Earl Bamber and polesitter Laurens Vanthoor, crashed out overnight when Dumas lost control of the car on a slick oil patch. It wiped out a several-minute lead after this car had led most of the race from the start.

‪We are out of the race. Romain couldn’t avoid oil on the track and lost it under braking. Big crash. The Grello is way too damage to get it back. This hurts a lot while we lead the whole race! ?? @24hnbr @manthey_racing ‬

A post shared by Kévin Estre (@kevinestre) on May 12, 2018 at 5:17pm PDT

The ROWE BMW team also had a tough race. Connor De Phillippi was unable to defend his win here of a year ago and had small contact with another car. He explained what happened, below. The sister car also had a tough race, and slowed with a mechanical issue.

Big apologies to my ROWE Racing team and teammates @alexandersims @martintomczyk @jessekrohn. Got caught out in a code 60 zone with a slower car and a small contact cost us our race. Team is working hard now to repair and continue.. pic.twitter.com/BdS6KSypzA

— Connor De Phillippi (@CDePhillippi) May 12, 2018

The no. 98 BMW M6 GT3 is also out of contention of a top position after an technical issue. The car was running in the top-10. #24hNBR pic.twitter.com/exYV09wDsB

— BMW Motorsport (@BMWMotorsport) May 13, 2018

Full results are linked here.

Here’s a highlights package of the race, from the race’s official social media channel.

? Highlight Alert: ADAC Zurich 24h-Rennen 2018 #24hNBR ?https://t.co/nRcMAIEbrZ

— ADAC Zurich 24h-Rennen (@24hNurburgring) May 13, 2018

All Photos Courtesy of Porsche Newsroom