At the season final of the endurance racing series at the Nürburgring, the Wochenspiegel Team Manthey (WTM-Racing) succeeded in scoring the result they were hoping for. Georg Weiss, Michael Jacobs and Oliver Kainz finished into seventh position with the Wochenspiegel-Porsche 997 GT3 R at the 35th DMV Münsterlandpokal race. Weiss: “Considering the very strong competition, this result is really fantastic.”
In practice already, WTM-Racing showed an excellent performance. Under very good conditions, mild temperatures and a dry track, this session was however held over a little more than 60 minutes only as it had to be interrupted for a while after an accident in the first lap. With a time of 8:12.242 minutes, Kainz brought the Wochenspiegel-Porsche into place five on the starting grid: “I could have pushed even harder but unfortunately I had to switch to the fuel reserve in my fast lap.”
At the beginning of the race, Kainz easily managed to hold third position. After the change of drivers, Jacobs, too, continued to keep this top position until he had to proceed to a stop-and-go penalty due to overtaking under yellow flags and thus lost his meanwhile second place. “I am not aware of having committed an infringement but we just couldn’t do anything.” Weiss, the third driver in the team, was then also able to defend a position in the leading group.
Bad luck for WTC-Racing at their last pit stop – Kainz proceeded to the final turn. It started to rain just after this final change of drivers so that Kainz had to come back to the pits once again. The crew consequently lost two places until the chequered flag came out. The team was nevertheless very pleased with their final seventh place.
Due to the recent good results, the summary of the 2010 season for WTM-Racing in the endurance racing series was very satisfying. The Wochenspiegel-Porsche achieved six top ten results in ten races.
Georg Weiss: “The last three races of the season were simply brilliant. We can now start the winter break with satisfaction and prepare next season. Although it took some time until we got in top form we are really very happy with our result, also considering that we are a private team.”
Michael Jacobs: “The change to the Porsche 997 GT3 R was the right decision. There were ups and downs during the season but we could finally demonstrate the power of our team. So this was a good year.”
Oliver Kainz: “I felt very well received in the team of WTM-Racing from the very beginning. I never experienced such a positive atmosphere in any other team. And we can also be more than happy with the result which we have achieved.”
