Technical failure suffered just before the race end of the first round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring spoiled all the chances to win for the team of Mamerow Racing. The former DTM driver Armin Hahne (Wimbach/ Germany), holding first place overall, came to a last scheduled pit stop with the SLS AMG GT3 when the engineers discovered a technical problem whilst the car was at the pits. As the problem could not be repaired in the remaining time of the race, team manager Peter Mamerow decided to stop the car in the pits.
During qualifying in the morning, the team had not been able to use the improving track conditions to their benefit due to a yellow sector on the circuit in the last practice lap. So Christian Mamerow (Castrop-Rauxel/ Germany) had to start the race from seventh grid position.
In the traffic of the competitors, Mamerow was not able to use the full performance of the Mercedes race car. They then decided to proceed to an early pit stop at the end of lap four to solve the traffic problems. This turned out to be a good strategy as Christian Mamerow in the gullwing race car succeeded in moving up into the lead with constant fast lap times. After a driver’s change, Armin Hahne continued in the cockpit of the SLS and secured their first position until the end of his stint in the Mamerow SLS AMG GT3.
“Even though it is disappointing if you have to stop after more than three quarters of the race distance and in race lead, our summary of the weekend is not really bad. Our times have shown that we have done a good preparation work and that we can go the pace of the top teams which are partly one year ahead of us regarding development”, commented team manager Peter Mamerow the start of the season.
