The traditional VLN teams were the main protagonists at the ADAC Qualification Race at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. At the last test race before the 24h Race on 20thto 23rdJune, Walkenhorst Motorsport and ROWE Racing decided the top three positions amongst themselves.
The dominating car was the BMW M6 GT3. Christian Krognes, David Pittard and Nicholas Yelloly took the victory ahead of Jesse Krohn and John Edwards as well as Connor de Philippi, Tom Blomqvist and Mikkel Jensen. The Porsche 911 GT3 R of Frikadelli Racing with drivers Romain Dumas, Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell moreover finished in fourth position, followed by the fastest Mercedes-AMG of Black Falcon with drivers Sven Müller, Patrick Assenheimer, Gabriele Piana and Yelmer Buurman who finished fifth overall.
“That is a dream. Unbelievable. All of the three drivers have done a fantastic job. With the 24h race, we are now facing the highlight. We will carry over this success to again achieve a good result there. We really cannot wait for it”, said a happy Team Manager Henry Walkenhorst and Christian Krognes from Norway added: “That is one of my most intense moments this year. If you get closer and closer to your rival, you feel such a high motivation. I realised quickly that we have more grip in the slower passages. Hence, I knew that I would have the best chance to overtake at the Grand Prix circuit. After so many years, this is now finally the first victory for the team.”
In the second half of the race, the BMW M6 GT3 completed the circuit eight seconds faster than the Porsche 911 GT3 R behind. The 24h record winners of Manthey Racing with drivers Richard Lietz Richard, Frederic Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet were heading for a podium position when a few minutes before the race end, they had to proceed to the pits again with steering problems. They finally finished seventh. So the BMW triple victory was finally sealed. “That was a true thriller today, unfortunately not with a perfect end for us. We lost some time at the beginning as we were on the wrong tyres for the first one or two laps. Anyhow, a one-two win up on the podium is not that bad after all”, said Hans-Peter Naundorf, ROWE Racing Team Principle.
A strong fight to catch up managed the “fastest meatball of the world”. Matt Campbell, Romain Dumas, Mathieu Jaminet and Sven Müller, who competed together at the Nordschleife for the first time in this driver line-up, improved their position after completion of the single timed laps from place 18 into fourth position. “Altogether, I am very happy with our performance. Due to the long driving time available within this event, we were very well able to further advance our development work for the 24h Race. After today’s analysis, we are well on the way”, said Team Principle Klaus Abbelen.
