The two Scherer Sport Team Phoenix Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO IIs fought for victory on Saturday. Jakub “Kuba” Giermaziak, Kim Luis Schramm and Luca Engstler won race six of the Nürburgring Endurance Series after four-hour with a lead of 21.649 seconds over teammates Frank Stippler and Vincent Kolb.
Julien Andlauer and Frédéric Makowiecki scored an overall podium finish in third with the new SPX class #911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 992) They took third place in the first race of the new 911.
After low temperatures in qualifying, there was light rain on the starting grid and before the race even started, it turned into a game of poker. Most teams played it safe and used rain tyres in the early stages.
After five laps the track was dry enough to switch to slicks. The two Scherer Audis did just that, preferring the ‘short’ stint.
After two and a half hours, it started to rain again in places.<
The two Audi teams stuck to their guns and confidently drove home to a dominant victory. In the end, the team in the green Audi R8 – Giermaziak, Schramm and Engstler – celebrated at the top of the podium at the award ceremony. Giermaziak as the overall winner for the second time this season.
Engstler was also overjoyed, crowning his first Nordschleife race in a GT3 vehicle with victory. “If someone had told me this morning that I would be at the top at the end of the day, I would have thought they were crazy,” Engstler said. “My goal was to collect kilometres on the Nordschleife, leave the car whole and not take any risks. When I was out on slicks in the rain, the team helped me a lot. We always knew where it was wet and where it was dry. So I was always able to adapt to the circumstances.” Kolb was also satisfied with his third consecutive podium result: “In the third stint I was out and about in the rain. The main thing here was not to make any mistakes. Overall I had a lot of fun again today and the double win for Phoenix is a fantastic result.”
As an SPX starter, Manthey’s #911 had to start the race behind the last GT3 car in the first starting group and also had to wait 30 seconds longer at each pit stop. The fact that it was still enough to finish on the podium, 2:07.450 behind, was partly due to the course of the race and the perfect tactics of the Manthey team. “If you subtract the 90 seconds we lost in the pits, you see the reality,” said Makowiecki. “The car ran well – just as expected. We now know where things can still be improved.”
A direct comparison of the car’s best laps saw Stippler post a 7:57.319on his fastest lap, the Manthey-Porsche 7:58.942.
Behind the leading trio, the Landgraf Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished fourth on the road but a post-race ride height infringement saw the #55 disqualified.
Fellow AMG racers Carrie Schreiner and Peter Terting with Schnitzelalm Racing moved up to fourth place. Christoph Breuer and Nico Verdonck in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from PROsport-Racing celebrated victory in the Pro-Am category in fifth place. Fastest in the Am category were Michael Heimrich and Arno Klasen in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II fielded by Twin Busch by équipe vitesse.
Philipp Leisen (Adrenalin Motorsport Team Alzner Automotive) and Malte Tack (Manheller Racing) fought a battle worth seeing for victory in the V4 class. The two BMW 325i raced bumper to bumper through the Green Hell – with the win for the three-time champion Leisen.
At the finish, his lead was 5.104 seconds. It was also tight in the VT2-FWD. mathilda racing, Team LAVO Carwash in the VW Scirocco R won with a lead of 5.546 seconds over the BMW 128ti from Sorg Rennsport. The finish in SP3 was also close: The Toyota GT86 Cup from Car Competiton Racing Team was waved off as class winner with 6.069 seconds ahead of the Renault Clio Cup from X85racing.
In terms of the championship. While Daniel Zils, Oskar Sandberg and Sindre Setsaas celebrated their sixth consecutive class win in the sixth race in the BMW 330i of the Adrenalin Motorsport Team Alzner Automotive, their closest challengers made a mistake. Mauro Calamia, Ivan Jacoma and Kai Riemer, who drive a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (982) for Schmickler Performance, only achieved third place in CUP3. Daniel Blickle and Tim Scheerbarth finished second in CUP2 in the AVIA W&S Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
Class wins went to Smyrlis Racing with Christopher Rink, Philipp Stahlschmidt and Francesco Merlini in CUP3. Karsten Krämer, Christopher Brück and Moritz Kranz from KKrämer Racing triumphed again in CUP2.
There was though controversy on Friday with the elimination from the race of Championship leaders Proom Racing, as their Facebook page makes clear there are significant questions over the process:
“Unfortunately we cannot start at the NLS 7 today. On Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. the NLS scrutineers announced that our car did not comply with the regulations and was therefore not eligible to start. Paragraph 4.3 of the ADAC 24H regulations stipulates that a turbo engine may only be used if the manufacturer used a turbo engine in the series. From our point of view, this means the Cayman series. So far, this has also applied to the scrutineers and the DMSB. Now, suddenly, a distinction is made between the 981 and 718 models.
“The car is driving as it is for the second season and in over 20 races in the NLS and RCN and has been approved each time without restrictions. Even before we started the conversion, we of course called on DMSB experts and discussed all aspects of the conversion. There is both an official DMSB acceptance report and a written release from the ADAC for the 24-hour race. According to the sports commissioner, these papers are worthless and the technical commissioners made mistakes in the past, which we, unfortunately, have to pay for.
“Nevertheless, the sports commissioners of the DMSB refused us the start today. Even if we have to accept this rule interpretation, it’s anything but fair in dealing. We didn’t have a chance to react here on Friday afternoon. Of course, the question also arises as to what one can rely on when dealing with this executive. What should a participant do to secure an investment of €200,000 and not be dumped out the back door just before the end of the season? A win of the year in the SP3T is definitely no longer possible, even though we are in the lead.”
NLS8 takes place in two weeks, on October 22nd.
Pics by Frozenspeed
