Half race distance passed by at the Nürburgring 24 hour race a bit over half an hour ago and the Team Phoenix #2 Audi R8 LMS ultra holds the lead with 80 laps under its belt. The Team Phoneix #3 Audi R8 is close behind and sitting in third place is the #26 Mamerow Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.

With around eight cars on the lead lap and the best part of 12 hours still to run, this is anyone’s race. The polesitting #19 BMW Z4 GT3 had driveshaft dramas, but did lead a fair portion of the first half of the race.

If the weather stays friendly we might see a new race distance record. On their way to victory last year Manthey Racing set a new distance record when the winning #18 car racked up 156 laps.

Mal Rose was just interviewed on Radio Le Mans and explained their #85 Aston Martin V8 Vantage got a bit tangled up with one of the leading Audis while Rob Thomson was at the wheel. Thankfully, there was no major damage and both cars are circulating well, although the Aston lost time in pitlane waiting for one the Aston GT3 cars to make way.

Here’s our update for the Australian and New Zealand drivers in the race. We’ll check in again in around hour 16, when the sun will be once again shining on the Nordschleife. Remember you can keep an eye on the placings via the official live timing feed.

Car #14 – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup // Class SP 7
21st outright // 3rd in class (75 laps)
Frank Kräling (GER), Marco Schelp (GER), Marc Gindorf (MCO),
Peter Scharmach (NZ)

Car #24 – Audi R8 LMS ultra // Class SP 9
24th outright // 19th in class (74 laps)
Florien Gruber (GER), Alexander Yoong Loong (MAS), Warren Luff (AUS),
Luca Cappellari (MCO)

Car #70 – BMW M3 GT4 // Class SP 10
37th outright // 3rd in class (71 laps)
Damien Flack (AUS), Silvester Wolf (GER), Emin Akata (GER), Mario Merten (GER)

Car #85 – Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 // Class SP 8
40th outright // 3rd in class (70 laps)
Jürgen Stumpf (GER), Mal Rose (AUS), Rob Thomson (AUS), Peter Cate (GB)

Car #99 – BMW M3 // Class SP 6
56th outright // 2nd in class (67 laps)
Roberto Feccio (ITA), Dario Paletto (ITA), Richard Purtscher (GER),
Paul Stubber (AUS)

Car #103 – BMW M3 // Class SP 5
130th outright // 5th in class (48 laps)* -20 laps on class leader
Richard Gartner (AUS), Garth Duffy (AUS), Allan Shephard (AUS)

Car #117 – Subaru Impreza WRX // Class SP 3T
89th outright // 5th in class (67 laps)
Martin Bailey (AUS), Mike Reedy (AUS), Ross Lilly (AUS)

Car #130 – Seat Leon Supercopa // Class SP 3T
143rd outright // 12th in class (34 laps)
Malcom Niall (AUS), Brett Niall (AUS), Clint Harvey (AUS), Mark Pilatti (AUS)

Car #202 – BMW 320i // Class SP 3
129th outright // 13th in class (48 laps)* -19 laps on class leader
Axel Burghardt (GER), Jürgen Meyer (GER), Guy Stewart (NZ), Toshiya Ito (JPN)

Car #214 – BMW 325i // Class V4
95th outright // 5th in class (63 laps)
Bastian Hüttinger (GER), Peter O’Donnell (NZ), Matthew Hansen (AUS),
Angus Chapel (AUS)

Car #215 – BMW M3 // Class V5
100th outright // 6th in class (61 laps)
Niels Borum (DEN), Maurice O’Reilly (NZ), Wayne Moore (NZ), Michael Eden (NZ)

*Note: Cars #103 and #202 look as though they may have struck trouble of some sort, if you have any word on their progress, please leave a message in the comments section below.