Joy and sorrow are quite often very close together. The team of Frikadelli Racing, too, had to experience this at the seventh round of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft last weekend. The crew around Sabine Schmitz and Klaus Abbelen, which is supported by the Porsche Zentrum Willich, had modified its Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in accordance with the regulations. New components were a bigger fuel tank and a new air restrictor which allows for a bigger volume of air to pass. As a compensation, though, the team had to take more weight.
The increase in power, however, paid off in practice already. Drivers and pit crew were equally happy with 13th grid position. The performance in the race should prove to be even more successful. After a hard fight with an Audi R8 which was won by Sabine Schmitz, the Frikadelli team started an attack on the leading group. Temporarily, the classification showed the race car even into second place.
But the joy about the excellent performance finished all of a sudden when Klaus Abbelen came to the pits with a broken drive shaft. “That was simply bad luck”, was the comment of the disappointed Klaus Abbelen, “The car was super and everything was looking very good for us until I realized that something was wrong.” The team decided not to repair the car during the race. So the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR will only be back at the start of the eighth round of the current season, fully revised and with a brand new gearbox – as Klaus Abbelen and Sabine Schmitz wish to finish on the podium at least once more during the year.
On top of the podium in the Porsche-Cup class finished again Agon-Motorsport. The team which is based in Dülmen also relies on the support of the Porsche Zentrum Willich. Motor mechanic Tino Biederbick for example is the chief mechanic of one of the two Porsche 997 GT3 Cup on-site at the race track. Due to his good coordination of the pit crew, he contributes considerably to the success of the team. With drivers Jörg Otto and Christian Menzel and competition number 701, Agon-Motorsport achieved second position in their class and sixth place in the overall classification. Jörn Schmidt-Staade and Stefan Müller took the chequered flag three positions further down and thus also in the top ten overall. They finished fourth in the Cup class.
“I am very happy with the performance of the two teams, even though the team of Frikadelli Racing was not lucky this time”, said Joachim Tünnesen, manager of the Willich Porsche Zentrum, “I am convinced that all of the three Porsche will have a successful race again for the Porsche Zentrum at the next round on 3rd of October.”
