At the seventh round of the VLN endurance racing championship, Markus Tesch (Kempten/ Germany), Lorenzo Rocco (Switzerland) and Kuragon from Japan scored the best result for the race&event Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the current season. After almost six hours racing, the driver trio finished into second place in the very competitive class of VLN Specials up to 4000cc. “It was a great success for the whole team as every one was really involved in achieving this”, said Stefan Schlesack, race&rent technical director.
Qualifying: Off in the icy corner
The race&event pit crew managed to repair the badly damaged front of the race car in the 75 minutes break between practice and race. In the qualifying session, Markus Tesch had crashed into the guardrails head-on at the exit of the section ‘icy corner’. “The track was slowly getting dry and there was a narrow, almost dry racing line”, explained the race driver. “The car was sliding over the crest at ‘icy corner’ and I lost control. Fortunately, the engine did not suffer any damage despite the broken radiator. My biggest concern was that we would not be able to take the start. I was quite embarrassed and of course totally happy that the team managed to repair the car before the race!”
Perfect race for all drivers
Kuragon started the race. The Japanese started on rain tyres, then changed to slick tyres after three laps before he had to come back to the pits again only one lap later to fit intermediates again. “All of a sudden, there was a heavy rain and I am happy to have completed the lap without any accident.”
Markus Tesch took over the steering wheel after 13 laps, completed four laps with new rain tyres and then changed back to slicks. This was only the second race ever for 48 years old Tesch. “I still need to get used to the traffic and the overtaking manoeuvres but it was really great fun.”
Rocco Lorenzo completed the last third of the race in the Porsche and, with 9:26.423 minutes, also set fastest lap times of the day. “It was quite slippery in practice and you had to take care when accelerating. The dry conditions in the race were perfect until just before race end. Second place is a fantastic result for our team!”
Porsche Zentrum Hagen in third place
The 911 GT3-RS of the Porsche Zentrum Hagen which was also serviced by the team of race&rent during the race completed the fantastic triumph for the team from Radevormwald/ Germany with third position. Johannes Kirchhoff (Iserlohn/ Germany), Sebastian Kemper (Austria), Willi Friedrichs (Schalksmühle/ Germany) and Wolfgang Kemper (Menden/ Germany) showed a perfect performance and tool the chequered flag in third place with a gap of only 13.5 seconds behind the race&event Porsche.
