Falken Motorsports’ #3 Porsche 911 GT3 R 992 of Davd Pittard and Joel Eriksson took a commanding victory last weekend at the ROWE 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen. The Japanese-flagged team, run by Schnabel Engineering, now has two NLS six-hour wins in a row, after emerging victorious in the 2022 edition.
The win marked the first of the season for a Porsche team in NLS competition on the Nordschleife after BMW M4 GT3s had won the opening four races. It was also the first win for the 992-spec 911 GT3 R on the circuit.
Initially, it was a Falken 1-2 when the chequered flag was shown, but the team’s #4 Porsche of Dennis Fetzer and Martin Ragginger was disqualified after the race because the adjustment angle of the rear wing did not comply with the regulations. Therefore, second place went to Patrick Assenheimer, Marcel Marchewicz and Tim Neuser in the Schnitzelalm Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The top three in the classification were completed by Phil and Ben Dörr in the #24 Dörr Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
In the qualifying session prior to the race, Frank Stippler secured the second pole position in a row for Scherer Sport Team PHX with a 7:54.210 in the team’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II.
At the start of the race, Stippler was immediately involved in a duel with Axcil Jefferies in the racing one Ferrari 296 GT3. However, the Scherer Audi stopped on the track after a puncture and retired.
“We had these problems already at NLS4 and now have to check exactly what the problem is,” Stippler stated.
For racing one, its time at the front didn’t last either, as in the end, Jefferies and Christian Kohlhaas were classified in sixth place.
Walkenhost meanwhile, was another contending team that hit trouble, as its #35 BMW M4 GT3 which started second, suffered a steering issue. The M4, driven by NLS4 winners Christian Krognes and Jakub Giermaziak was forced into retirement after 15 laps.
While its competitors faltered, the two Falken Porsche had a consistent run to the front and ended up 1-2 after the first pit stops, with the #3 leading and the #4 rising to second from 20th on the grid. From there the pair controlled the race, the #11 Schnitzelalm Mercedes that inherited second finishing almost three minutes off the #3.
“That was a perfect race,” said 2023 N24 winner Pittard, was delighted to score a win on his debut with Falken. “The team received me very well and I felt very comfortable in the Porsche from the very first moment. The fact that we are now even winning as well is mega.”
After the #4’s disqualification, Schnitzelalm driver Assenheimer said he was happy about his second-place finish: “The team has experienced difficulties for quite a long period. That’s why the podium is twice as valuable. It feels really good.”
Outside the top three, with a fourth-place finish overall, the #17 PROsport Racing Aston Martin of Mike David Ortmann and Maxime Dumarey won SP9 Pro/Am. Nico Otto and Benjamin Leuchter completed the top five in their #100 Max Kruse Racing CUP2 class-winning Porsche.
Next up on the NLS calendar is the Eibach ADAC ACAS Cup on September 9th.
