Gallery: Nürburgring 24 Hours

The German cement salesmen that buy Audis are clearly impressed with reliability, because this season Audi seems to be hell bent on not just competing in endurance racing, but OWNING it.

A theory artfully demonstrated by the company's performance this weekend. It pulled another milestone out of its four rings at the Nürburgring 24 Hours - its first overall victory with the new Audi R8 LMS ultra, and the car's first one-two podium finish.

German driver quartet of Marc Basseng, Christopher Haase, Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock, who shared the helm in Audi Sport Team Phoenix's car, are in for a pat on the back in Ingolstadt. As are Christian Abt, Michael Ammermüller, Armin Hahne and Christian Mamerow, who drove the Team Mamerow Racing R8 to second place.

That little lot will go on the fridge alongside the R18 TDI's tenth victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and last July's win at the 24-hour classic at Spa-Francorchamps in an R8 LMS.

Dieter Gass, Head of Racing Commitments at Audi Sport "We are absolutely delighted about this long desired victory," says. "For three years the Audi R8 LMS was always the best GT3 car at the Nürburgring. Now we have taken overall victory in the fight with seven other brands. Over the last 24 hours nothing whatsoever was handed to us on a plate. Our victorious drivers and teams produced a fantastic, consistent and error-free performance."

Other noteworthy performances were Nissan's GT Academy boys. They brought home the Number 123 GT-R first in its SP8T class, and 30th overall. That's the first 24-hour class victory for ex Gran Turismo gamer and now fully-fledged driving god Lucas Ordoñez.

Here are the rest of the results:

1: #3 Phoenix Audi R8 LMS Ultra 155 laps
2: #26 Mamerow Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra +3:35s
3: #66 Hankook Team Heico Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG +11:35s
4: #29 Marc VDS BMW Z4 +1 lap
5: #65 Hankook Team Heico Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG +3 laps
6: #2 Phoenix Audi R8 LMS Ultra +4 laps
7: #28 Porsche 911 GT3R +4 laps
8: #19 BMW Team Schubert Z4 +5 laps
9: #20 BMW Team Schubert Z4 +5 laps
10: #21 Rowe Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG +5 laps