2011 24 Hours of Nürburgring: Off to a wet, make that dry, let's just say moist start

The green flag at 2011 24 hours of Nürburgring dropped this afternoon with a field of 198 qualifying cars racing down a damp front straight. After qualifying under a variety of weather conditions (it hailed at one point yesterday) and a light drizzle falling on the grid during staging, the teams scrambled to mount slicks as the track started to dry moments before the race - many teams sliced grooves by hand for an extra bit of grip on the still-drying surface.

The starting grid was led by a Ferrari 458 Italia with a pair of Mercedes-Benz SLSs in slot two and three. After a little more than seven hours of running, the skies remain overcast but the track is dry (the sun went down nearly two hours ago). The current standings:

1. 30 Mame/Hahn/Kaff 47 8:56.368
2. 18 Lieb/Luhr/Bern/Duma 47 8:44.778
3. 32 Arno/Marg/Brü/Fran 47 9:02.314
4. 1 Mül/Farf/Alze/Lamy 47 8:50.258
5. 16 Ekst/Sche/Wern/Abt 47 8:49.383
6. 22 Heye/Jäg/Blee/Seyf 46 9:19.983
7. 76 Sand/Miln/Lars/Hür 46 9:00.403
8. 15 Stip/Henn/Haas/Wink 46 8:48.825
9. 14 Bass/Fäs/Picc/Stip 46 8:47.645
10. 8 West/Menz/Stur/Rieg 46 8:59.736

We'll be adding more pictures to the gallery throughout the event. To watch the race streaming live online, try these links: Link 1 / Link 2