ADAC GT Masters championship leader René Rast shared the cockpit of a Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra with former ADAC GT Masters champion Christopher Haase, Christian Mamerow and Markus Winkelhock to win the 42nd ADAC Zurich 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. Rast already has one trophy in his cabinet for an endurance race victory, namely the 24 Hours of Spa in 2012. Team-mates Haase and Winkelhock have likewise picked up silverware for their win on the Nürburgring North Loop with Audi in 2012. Victory at the Nürburgring rounds off an exceptionally strong first half of the season for the 27-year-old who is joint leader in the ADAC GT Masters together with Audi R8 LMS ultra co-driver Kelvin van der Linde. Just one week before, he had finished fourth in the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"I was behind the wheel not only at the start of the race but also for the closing stint, which made the Nürburgring a very special race for me," said Rast. "I also drove the opening and closing stints at Le Mans last week. To be asked to do that in two of the world's greatest endurance races within the space of seven days is a real honour for me as a driver. It was a special thrill to bring the car over the finish line today. The whole team did a terrific job. My team-mates didn't make a single error, it was a good team effort, and I think this was race we deserved to win."

Jeroen Bleekemolen and Andreas Simonsen, who will be contesting three ADAC GT Masters races in the second half of the season, together with Lance David Arnold and Christian Menzel took second place in a Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 in what turned out to be a tense battle between Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW for the three podium spots.

Maro Engel, Nico Bastian, Christian Hohenadel and Michael Zehe finished third in another Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 entered by ROWE RACING. Engel was delighted with the podium: "It was my first start in a 24-hour race, so a Top Three finish is a great result."

A total of 22 drivers and four teams from the ADAC GT Masters competed in the ADAC Zurich 24-hour race. The Super Sports Car League not only supplied two of the winning drivers in Rast and Winkelhock but was generally well represented on the podium. Ten of the twelve drivers in the overall winners' party were current or former ADAC GT Masters contestants.

ADAC GT Masters Series Manager Michael Rebhan was also competing at the Nürburgring: driving an Eifelblitz BMW M235i, he finished third in the Cup2 class.