The traditional VLN teams have left their marks on the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours in an impressive way last weekend. Walkenhorst Motorsport, ROWE Racing and Montaplast by Land-Motorsport took the three positions on the podium at the end of the jubilee event in the Ardennes. In school, you learn for your life, at the legendary Nordschleife for the classical long-distance races.
“This is absolutely unbelievable. To finish as winners here for the second time, within this close competition with all these brilliant drivers and cars, that simply makes me exuberantly happy. Our BMW M6 GT3 was running without any problem – and my two team mates were fabulous. I have so many things in my mind. I am now looking forward to a cold drink”, said Philipp Eng who, together with Christian Krognes and Tom Blomqvist, decided the roller coaster ride for himself. The driver trio produced this triumph for Walkenhorst Motorsport right away at their debut in the PRO-Cup. In particular the Norwegian Krognes is not at all unknown in the popular grassroots series in the Eifel county, not to forget that the 27-years old has taken already 17 VLN class wins during the last years.
“That is crazy. I would never have thought to achieve that kind of result when I arrived here. Yet, I believed in the team and with Tom and Philipp, I also had two fantastic team mates, I could always rely on them. Philipp did a bit of magic in the last two race hours, absolutely amazing. I have meanwhile been competing for the team for two years. It is a young and strong-willed team. They all want to win – and that has payed off now”, said Krognes.
At the 70th edition of the race, the BMW M6 GT3 of ROWE Racing crossed the finish line in second place with a gap of ten seconds. Jens Klingmann, Alexander Sims and Nick Catsburg thus made the one-two win for BMW perfect. ROWE Racing can look back onto an impressive track record: Since 2016, they have been able to celebrate a top three result at each of the races ADAC Zurich 24h-Rennen at the Nürburgring and the Spa 24 Hours. No other GT3 team has been able to achieve a similar result in the last three years. “I think that the second position was the maximum we could do here. I am particularly pleased for the BMW family. Who would have anticipated this when we all arrived here? This is the toughest GT race of the world and we all can be proud on ourselves”, said Klingmann who lives in Switzerland.
The best result for an Audi R8 LMS was scored by the Team Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, finishing third. The driver trio Kelvin van der Linde, Sheldon van der Linde and Jeffrey Schmidt was fighting for the overall win until the very last lap. “It was an incredibly hot 24 Hour Race, not only with regard to the temperatures”, Team Principle Wolfgang Land said happily referring to their third position. “The preparation of the team was very comprehensive, we wanted to win and we are extremely proud that we can celebrate this podium position as fastest Audi R8 LMS after these tough 24 hours of racing. An exhausting scenario that our crew has coped with in a perfect way. As a Team Principle, you can be proud and take your hats off to each single team member.”
The Team Black Falcon, too, showed a strong performance. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Yelmer Buurman, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz was in the top three until four hours before the race end. The trio unfortunately dropped out of the top three due to a pit stop which they completed just before a full course yellow phase. After 511 laps, final driver Luca Stolz, who also celebrated his anniversary on that day, secured fifth position for the team. “Actually, we had a good race, we did not make any mistakes, nor did we receive any penalty. That makes a big difference in Spa as the pit lane is so long and you would lose about two minutes with a drive-through penalty. We lacked a bit of pace but each pit stop was perfect. Yet, we were unlucky with the full-course-yellow”, said Luca Stolz.
