The many fans of the traditional racing team from Cologne, Kremer Racing, may well be happy: The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by the endurance race experienced Wolfgang Kaufmann from Molsberg/ Germany and his British team mate Nick Tandy, vice-champion in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup 2011, achieved a superb 11th overall position amongst 165 starters after the four hours race distance of the 58th ADAC Westfalenfahrt. In the very competitive class SP7 of VLN Specials up to 4000 cc, only the Wochenspiegel-Team, which can look back onto a vast experience in racing at the Nürburgring, was one minute and 17 seconds quicker than the Kremer Porsche.
The timed practice session already finished very promising: Holding second overall position for quite some time during the session, they finally finished into 15th place overall and third place in their class. Their fastest lap time was 9:03.390 minutes and about four seconds faster than one of their toughest competitor in class SP9 who finished just behind, the “big” Manthey Porsche with works driver Timo Bernhard.
The grid which had still comprised 172 cars in practice started the race over four hours exactly on schedule. Kaufmann and Tandy were racing in the white 911 GT3 with start number 62 (1962 was the year of foundation of the company E & M Kremer GmbH) very quickly but also safely and in the top 12. The three drivers’ changes worked very well just like on the good old times of Kremer Racing, even a small fire in another team’s race car accommodated in the same pit did not really bother the experienced team from Cologne. With a fastest race lap of 8:42.130 minutes, the result lists showed them finally into 11th overall position of 114 classified cars. The tough battle which was going on in class SP7 is reflected in the fact that only 6 of 11 starters took the chequered flag.
In the end, company owner Eberhard A. Baunach was more than happy that his team and in particular his drivers did not fully respected their race strategy “Routine instead of cups”. “Nobody could have expected this result in the first race of Kremer Racing after this long break, we will now consequently and ambitiously work on the further development of our performance”, explained Baunach after the race.
At the next championship round, the 36th DMV 4 Hour Race on 30th April, the second Kremer Porsche 911 GT 3 Cup will also be at the start in class Cup 2 and driven by Eberhard A. Baunach himself and Michael Küke from Essen/ Germany.
