“One thing is for sure: Today we definitely had the luck that we were missing at the last round”, said Stein Tveten, team manager and driver of aesthetic racing. This fact did, however, not at all apply for the practice at the Opel 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal Race. In the small time window in which the conditions were dry at this seventh VLN race and the fastest times were set, the Porsche was at the pits for a driver and tyre change. When they rejoined the practice on the then wetter and consequently slower track, they achieved only fourth position on the grid.
And it came even worse for the team at the beginning of the race. They had fitted slicks and this tyre choice turned out to be wrong as the track was still quite wet. They were furthermore slowed down by a technical problem on the suspension. After two unscheduled pit stops, everything was sorted out and their chase to catch up could start.
First of all it was Yannick Fübrich who constantly completed fast lap times and moved up to the cars in front. He gained position by position, both in class V6 and in the overall classification. In the second third of the race distance, Tveten continued to catch up brilliantly and handed over the car back to Fübrich while he was in second class position. The latter then started a final attack in the white-blue Porsche. He was absolutely close to his limits in each single lap and managed indeed to go into the lead of class V6 in the very last race lap. Nobody was able to slow him down now as he was leading and he gained an advantage of 48 seconds until the chequered flag came out. “It is usually the drivers who are in the focus. But today you could see that motorsport is a team sport. It was also due to our fantastic pit stops that we won valuable time and which made it possible for us to catch up. A great team performance”, said Tveten who was more than happy. Fübrich added: “Two wins and one second place in the previous three races, that is what you would call a good run, and that all in such a competitive class.”
