Pinta Racing apparently was not able to follow up the luck which they had at the 24 Hour Race at the endurance racing championship. After a strong performance in practice which they finished in third position, the Porsche 997 GT3 R driven by Michael Illbruck and Manuel Lauck had to return to the pits and stop the race after only three laps. The early retirement was due to a broken wheel suspension after a collision when lapping which was not their fault.
The Eifel region presented itself from quite an uncomfortable side, it was raining and it was quite cold. Even though it stopped raining when the practice started the track was still completely wet at the beginning. As many others, Pinta-Racing nevertheless tried to set a quick time straightaway. The Pinta-Porsche driven by Manuel Lauck was first shown in third position. The conditions became better later in the session, one track around the circuit was dry and the lap times got faster and faster. Finally, it started to rain again slightly so that Manuel Lauck made it in third grid position with rain tyres and a time of 9:52.175 minutes. “My second lap was even better, but I had two yellow flag situations. We are nevertheless happy with grid position three.
It was the first time for Michael Illbruck that he himself started the race. He did a good job in avoiding the traffic in the first corner and joined the Nordschleife into place five. The Pinta-Porsche was able to keep this position until the unfortunate incident happed in the third lap when the car left the Grand Prix Circuit. When he was lapping a slower competitor, the latter hit the rear wheel of the Porsche and Michael Illbruck spun. A broken wheel suspension was discovered at the pits. Michael Illbruck: “Actually, everything was fine. I did a good pace at the start and quickly realized that the others cannot easily move away. I found my rhythm quickly.”
Illbruck’s good feeling was confirmed by his new personal fastest lap time. He then had no chance to avoid the accident. “Basically, I already had passed the slower car when it nevertheless hit me. I had no chance to do anything else.“ Illbruck remains nevertheless confident. He realized that he can well go the pace of the fastest cars in VLN. So Pinta Racing has a very strong drivers’ team which must not hide behind the others. Furthermore, the whole team is doing a fantastic job in the set-up of the car so that the two drivers can set fast lap times.
So the only negative point was that the Pinta team again had to pack up too early. Their spirit, however, was quite good. Team director Michael Illbruck is assured: “We are on the right track. The Porsche is running perfectly, the team is working brilliantly, it’s just the results that are missing. But that will come.” Maybe in four weeks time already, on 27th of August, when the second race of the season over the distance of six hours will take place. Of course with Pinta Racing at the start.
