The #31 Schubert Motorsport BMW M6 of Jörg Müller, Marco Wittmann and Jesse Krohn managed to score a hard fought victory in the second VLN race of the season, headlining a BMW M6 podium sweep. In the end, the trio won the race, scoring the M6’s first ever victory by just four tenths of a second over the sister #39 Schubert-entered car of Lucas Luhr, John Edwards and Martin Tomczyk.
“I did not realise that this was the first ever win for the BMW M6 GT3,” admitted Krohn after the race. “It is great to be a part of this triumph and it makes me very proud. I put in a great lap in qualifying, which was good enough for pole position. We took this performance into the race and were able to secure the win. We hit all our targets this weekend and prepared for the 24-hour race in the best possible way.”
From the start, Müller aboard held the lead from pole, while the #39 Schubert squeezed past the #36 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW of Christian Krognes to make it a 1-2 for the Schubert team. From there, the trio of M6s took off, while the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 of Rene Rast, H&R Ford GT and the pair of Manthey Porsches (#911 leading the #912) scrapped for fourth behind.
As the first stint wore on the Ford (running in SPX) slipped back to sixth, before eventually retiring from the race.
After the first round of stops the top three remained the same, but the two Schubert cars ran together, and battled for the lead; tussling for much of the remaining two and a half hours of the race. The leaders completed 28 laps of the Nordschleife.
Behind the Walkenhorst BMW, and finishing just off the podium was the first entry from the other marques in the race. The #15 Phoenix Audi climbed the standings to claim fourth, leapfrogging the sister #5 R8 and the two Manthey cars to secure the place. Christopher Mies, Markus Winkelhock and Christian Mamerow all completed solid stints in the process.
Rounding out the top five was the first of the Manthey Porsches, the #912 of Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki, after the #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R co-driven by Le Mans champions Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy faded to ninth.
While the race was very much a preparation for the Nürburgring 24 Hours on the 26th of this month, the next VLN race (47. Adenauer ADAC Deutsche Payment-Trophy) is set to take place on the 25th of June.
