The engines are running in the Eifel region as the first round of the VLN endurance racing championship was on the calendar. In marvellous weather, Walkenhorst Motorsport had the opportunity to send all of their three race cars out on the track of the Nordschleife for the first time. As usual in preparation of the 24h Race, the starting grid this weekend was filled with prominent and high-class drivers and teams.
The team came to the event with the two Z4 GT3 and the brand-new M235i Racing to be put to the test. The first Z4 GT3 was driven by Ralf Oeverhaus and Henry Walkenhorst and the second one by Stefan Aust, Niclas Kentenich and Peter Posavac. The M235i Racing was officially delivered on Wednesday and it made its debut with the drivers Michael Schrey and Emin Akata in the cockpit.
All of the 7 drivers used the Friday to work on the set-up of the race cars. This turned out to be much easier for the two Z4 GT3 due to the available data from last year. The modifications which had been carried out on the vehicles throughout the winter break were designed to contribute to their reliability rather than to driving physics. The team nevertheless succeeded in improving the set-up of the car. Peter Posavac was excited about the performance of the Z4 GT3 after the Friday adjustments: \”The car is absolutely fantastic.\”
The work on the M235i Racing turned out to be much more difficult. The car was delivered to the team at the Nürburgring on Wednesday only and there was hence not much time left to get to know the car better. In addition to the set-up work, a few teething troubles had to be sorted out and the team had to proceed to an unintended nightshift.
The result of the work was well reflected in the qualification. At the end of the session, the M235i Racing was shown in second place of the class, the Z4 GT3 in the design of the TÜV Süd finished in 6th position with a time of 8:14,897 minutes and the Dunlop Z4 GT3 in 18th place. The team did not experience the same amount of luck in the race and was not able to convert their good starting positions into good race results.
After a good start of Niclas Kentenich, the TÜV Süd Z4 GT3 constantly moved up into the leading group of the top teams. Temporarily they were already shown in third place and completed one of the fastest race laps with a time of 8:11,604. A top five position was within reach for the driver trio Aust, Kentenich and Posavac, had there not been a driving mistake in the last stint at the section Exmühle which forced the team to retire.
The race for the H&R M235i Racing was even worse. A few metres before the race finish, the car stopped with a lack of fuel after they had been in the lead after the start for a while and shown in second place for quite a long time.
Despite the damage after a driving mistake, the Dunlop Z4 GT3 was able to make up the time lost due to repair at the pits in a fantastic performance and the driver duo Oeverhaus and Walkenhorst finally finished in the same 18th position as in qualifying and in 12th place of their class SP9.
It has finally become evident that the necessary potential is there but it has to be converted into appropriate results. The preconditions exist!
