Porsche cars took the top three spots at the Nurburing 24 hour race in Germany.

At the end of the endurance race, which tests reliability and speed as well as driving skill, the three teams on the podium all drove a version of the Porsche 911, a popular model with performance car hire customers.

It top spot was a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by one of two Manthey Racing teams. The winner was driven by Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Marcel Tiemann.

In a field of 215, a Posche 911 GT3-MR driven by Manthey Racing’s second team comprising Armin Hahne, Christian Haarmann, Jochen Krumbach and Pierre Kaffer, was the runner up.

In third place came a Porsche 911 GT3 driven by an all German team of Klaus Abbelen, Sabine Scmitz, Dr Edgar Althoff and Kenneth Heyer.

Adding to the difficulty of a long race, the cars drove through wet conditions through the night, and the race was closer than the results revealed.

“Even though it didn’t look like it in the second half of the race – this was my hardest fought victory by now,” said Marcel Tiemann.