Bergmeister took the lead at the 40 minute mark but a yellow flag at the hour mark allowed a trio of Ferraris to close onto the rear of the Porsches. With just over 30 minutes left in the race and up against the one hour and ten minute driver time limit, the #45 and #46 pitted nearly simultaneously under yellow, for driver changes, fuel, and new tires. Wolf Henzler took over in the #45 and Patrick Pilet in the #46. The #71 Tafel Racing
Ferrari, which had been in P4, pitted at the same time for a driver change and fuel, but elected not to change tyres.
Combined with the time regained under the yellow, this allowed the #71 to get out of the pits just in front of the #45 to take the lead, with the #46 in third. A lengthy pit stop for the #62 Risi Ferrari pushed them back to P5, and allowed the #48 Corsa Ferrari to move into fourth. The #44 had moved up the field to eleventh.
After another yellow flag period, the race became one against time, with Henzler having less than ten minutes to try and make a move for victory.
The #71, #45, and #46 were nose to tail but despite a late attempt to secure victory at turn eleven on the final lap, Henzler had to settle for second.
"It was a tough finish,” he said. “I had a great battle with Dirk Muller in the Tafel Racing Ferrari at the end. I had two or three opportunities to get next to him and tried to overtake. But I had to step back, he was fighting hard for his position for sure and we made the decision not to take the risk. It was tough to find a solid passing opportunity. I had to be very careful not to lose too much time trying to pass because Patrick was right behind me in the #46 car. I didn't want to either lose a position or put Patrick at risk.
