Blancpain Sprint Cup leaders Franck Perera and Maximilian Buhk extended their championship lead to seven points with a thrilling qualifying race win at the Nurburgring.
The HTP Mercedes duo were not the first to cross the line, failing to overcome a stunning defensive drive from Ezequiel Perez Companc, but a penalty for the Grasser Lamborghini then handed Perera and Buhk victory.
For large portions of the race, it looked as though in-form pair Dries Vanthoor and Marcel Fassler would take a comfortable win and seize the points lead.
But the race would turn on its head thanks to rapid mandatory pitstops from several crews.
While Vanthoor pitted instantly within the pitstop window, the Grasser Lamborghini of Andrea Caldarelli ran four laps longer and that allowed team-mate Perez Companc to come out narrowly ahead of Fassler.
WRT Audi driver Fassler looked marginally quicker, but Perez Companc’s defence then created a four-way battle for the win, allowing the points-leading pair to seize their chance.
Buhk had started the race in fourth, before a rapid stop allowed the Mercedes to claw back several seconds on the race leader as Perera joined the fray.
The Audi/Lamborghini battle then gave the platform for Perera to pass Fassler for second and hound Perez Companc.
But the battling had allowed the Bentley of Maxime Soulet to grab an opportunity to further demote Fassler and he soon dispatched Perera too.
Perez Companc then made a mistake heading into the Coca-Cola chicane and a defence deemed too robust on Soulet incurred a one-second penalty.
With Soulet caught out by Perez Companc’s move, the HTP Mercedes crew picked up a win that boosted its chances of the Sprint Cup title in Sunday’s finale.
The penalty relegated Perez Companc and team-mate Caldarelli to second, while Soulet could only finish fourth behind Fassler.
Fifth went the way of Will Stevens and Markus Winkelhock, as the WRT Audi duo recovered from 20th in two strong stints, finishing ahead of the sister #17 car.
Overall Blancpain GT championship leaders Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhart had a nightmare race, finishing 19th after an early spin.
Race one result
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | F.Perera, M.Buhk | Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 1h01m28.374s |
| 2 | E.P.Companc, A.Caldarelli | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 0.617s |
| 3 | M.Fassler, D.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 2.482s |
| 4 | A.Soucek, M.Soulet | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 2.780s |
| 5 | M.Winkelhock, W.Stevens | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 13.752s |
| 6 | S.Leonard, R.Frijns | Team WRT | Audi | 14.282s |
| 7 | J.Klingmann, A.F.da Costa | Rowe Racing | BMW | 14.634s |
| 8 | J.Kane, S.Schothorst | Strakka Racing | McLaren | 15.115s |
| 9 | J.Szymkowiak, F.Schiller | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 16.442s |
| 10 | M.Palttala, J.Krohn | Rowe Racing | BMW | 16.744s |
| 11 | S.Kane, V.Abril | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 17.578s |
| 12 | P.Schothorst, J.Dennis | Team WRT | Audi | 17.978s |
| 13 | M.Meadows, R.Marciello | Akka ASP | Mercedes | 22.817s |
| 14 | E.Ide, F.Vervisch | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 26.624s |
| 15 | R.Ineichen, T.Dillmann | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 28.323s |
| 16 | R.Bell, A.Watson | Strakka Racing | McLaren | 28.534s |
| 17 | M.Kodric, L.Williamson | Strakka Motorsport | McLaren | 28.907s |
| 18 | A.Mattschull, D.Keilwitz | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 29.359s |
| 19 | C.Engelhart, M.Bortolotti | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 34.496s |
| 20 | S.Gachet, P.Terting | Sainteloc Racing | Audi | 41.789s |
| 21 | I.Tutumlu, M.van Splunteren | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 50.456s |
| 22 | A.Costa, S.Ortelli | Emil Frey Lexus Racing | Lexus | 51.110s |
| 23 | D.Baumann, J.Eriksson | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 55.136s |
| 24 | R.Salikhov, M.Malucelli | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 1m02.076s |
| 25 | N.Pohler, F.Crestani | Orange 1 Team Lazarus | Lamborghini | 1m07.953s |
| 26 | P.B.-Bhakdi, C.van Dam | Kessel Racing TP12 | Ferrari | 1m19.766s |
| 27 | J-L.Beaubelique, T.Vautier | Akka ASP | Mercedes | 1m23.067s |
| 28 | S.Earle, D.Perel | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 1m59.874s |
| 29 | C.Bourret, J-P.Belloc | Akka ASP | Mercedes | 2m00.450s |
| – | F.Serralles, D.Juncadella | Akka ASP | Mercedes | Retirement |
| – | K.Ceccon, F.Stippler | ISR | Audi | Retirement |
| – | B.Barnicoat, C.Ledogar | Strakka Racing | McLaren | Retirement |