The other race of 1952 to feature AFM cars was the German Grand Prix. Privately owned cars were entered by Willi Heeks, Helmut Niedermayr, Ludwig Fischer and Willi Krakau, all using BMW engines instead of the Küchen unit favoured by the works team. Neither Fischer nor Krakau started the race, and while Niedermayr was down in 22nd place, Heeks qualified his car a magnificent 9th. He qualified ahead of several works cars, including Jean Behra's Gordini. Come the race, Heeks took advantage of both Paul Pietsch's Veritas and Ernst Klodwig's BMW running into trouble on the opening lap, and moved up to 7th, where he remained for 5 laps. However, on lap 6, he began to suffer with the BMW engine in his car, and by the end of the 8th lap, he was out. Meanwhile, Niedermayr had been making fantastic progress from his lowly grid slot. Heeks' retirement moved his compatriot up into 9th place. By capitalising on other's mistakes. Niedermayr had moved up through the field, and when Robert Manzon's Gordini lost a wheel on the 9th lap, he inherited the Frenchman's 8th place. He was passed by Toni Ulmen, driving a Veritas, late in the race, but still brought the car home in 9th, the first ever finish for an AFM in a championship race.