Celebration and relief in the team of Land-Motorsport after on Friday, on occasion of some taxi rides for a VIP group, a small technical failure had affected the mood within the team a little negatively. The mechanics had to work very quickly so that the team was able to start in practice. Due to the pit exit light shown red on two occasions, the team did however not have much of an opportunity to evaluate the data for next day in detail.
So they tried their best in practice. The two regular drivers Andzej Dzikevic and Roland Botor finally had to get used to a car which had been modified to compete in the CUP2 class. Track commentator Patrick Simon is supposed to support the two drivers at the coming 6h races and thus joined the practice session as start driver. With a time of 8:30,184 minutes, Andzej Dzikevic set their fastest lap in practice which resulted in position 13 on the grid. A remarkable result as places 1-11 were all occupied by vehicles of class SP9. It was just before the practice ended that another CUP2 class competitor made it into 12th position. Now it was apparent that the Friday problem had been solved and the 6 hours race time could begin.
It was up to team manager Wolfgang Land to decide on the team strategy. There was one point more to consider this time: Track commentator Lars Gutsche had found out that morning only that his co-commentator would in between complete some laps at the Nordschleife and Patrick Simon was quickly released for his two stints. Patrick was running through the starting grid with the microphone in his hands before Andzej Dzikevic took the start of the race – should position 13 bring good or bad luck? Everything was running perfectly then in the 6 hours race time. Partick Simon completed the 2nd stint and they moved up into the top ten. Best CUP2 result when Roland Botor continued after Partick Simon and before Andzej Dzikevic proceeded to his 2nd stint. Patrick finally completed the final turn. At the last pit stop, Partick Simon handed over the steering wheel back to Andzej Dzikevic for the last part. The team was meanwhile shown into sixth place and all they wanted now was to finish safely in this position. Their target was achieved: Winner in the CUP2 class and first after the much more powerful SP9 Porsche race cars. Finally, Patrick had the pleasure to announce himself at the prizegiving ceremony. Just for fun!
