The eighth round of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring saw an exciting battle for the overall win until the checkered flag. Kevin Estre in Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R crossed the finish line just three tenths ahead of Lance-David Arnold behind the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Haribo Racing Team. Through a post-race time penalty of 35 seconds due to overtaking under yellow flags against the victorious Porsche Lance-David Arnold and Uwe Alzen inherited the overall win of the 48th ADAC Barbarossapreis.
“The last laps were so hard for me, I had to stand in the box and follow the race via our onboard camera. On the track, we weren’t able to overtake the Porsche, but in the end we won. In the last few races we were able to show that we are able to fight for the podium with great, which makes us happy going into the offseason,” said Uwe Alzen after the race. The duo Kevin Estre and Earl Bamber had to settle for second place.
Around three minutes behind the winners Martin Ragginger and Peter Dumbreck in the Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R finished third. “Every race we take a step in the right direction and we hope that our third place is just the beginning. Towards the end of a stint, we still lose time on our competitors, which is the area we are now working on, “said Martin Ragginger.
Fourth place went to Felipe Fernandes Laser and Franck Mailleux, who drove a seemingly problem free race with the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG003C and benefited from the misfortune of many competitors. Fifth were Sven Müller and Otto Klohs in another Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, the Frikadelli Racing Porsche of Klaus Abbelen, Norbert Siedler, Sabine Schmitz and Patrick Huisman placed in sixth. “G.Tonic”, Andreas Weishaupt and Marc Basseng brought home seventh place finish for CarCollection Motorsport, just ahead of Peter Posavac, Anders Buchardt and “Werner Hamprecht» in the Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3. The Ferrari 488 GT3 of Rinaldi Racing finished its premiere in the “Green Hell” in ninth place. Christopher Gerhard and Ralf Schall rounded out the top 10.
The qualifying session for the 48th ADAC Barbarossapreis Christian Krognes improved the qualifying lap record of Manuel Metzger to an impressive 7: 53,375 minutes, in the race of Walkenhorst BMW M6 GT3 lead for many portions before it had to be parked after a crash of Jesse Krohn.
Other cars in the top tier were also plagued by problems, Mario and Dominik Farnbacher had after a fire during a pit stop resulting in an early end for the Lexus RC-F GT3. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Black Falcon crashed heavily just after mid distance with Manuel Metzger behind the wheel, when Metzger hit oil at the Hohenrain Schikane.
VLN championship leaders Alexander Mies and Michael Schrey had an eventfull race day, after seven consecutive wins season not everything went according to plan. Towards the end of qualifying, Mies lost the BMW M235i Racing Cup leaving the car with substantial front end damge, the Bonk Motorsport mechanics managed to get the car ready for the race by employing makeshift repairs.
Starting from third place, Mies stop on the track and change his seat set up dropping to the rear of the field. After that Mies and Schrey reeled off a flawless race and finished in third position. Through the field strength of 20 vehicles this third rank was gold for the duo, they now have a championship lead big enough to win their first championship. Only if their nearest competitors manage to assemble an exorbitant number of starters Mies and Schrey could lose their championship.
The penultimate race of the VLN season, the DMV 250-Meilen Rennen, will take place on October 8th.
