The VLN teams have left their mark on the Qualifikationsrennen ADAC Zurüch 24h Race. After 41 laps over the 25.378 kilometres long combination of the Nordschleife and the Grand Prix Circuit, it was the Mercedes AMG Team Black Falcon which celebrated the victory of their car with start number 5. The local heroes from Meuspath near the Nürburgring, Yelmer Buurman, Thomas Jäger and Jan Seyffarth, finally dominated the race in their Mercedes-AMG GT3.
“That was a fantastic fight about the win. We finally were rewarded for our performances and we are more than happy”, said Thomas Jäger. “That was a good preparation for the 24h Race mid-May and we are determined to repeat there our performance of today.” The Rowe-BMW M6 GT3 with the driver duo Martin Tomczyk and Nicky Catsburg took the chequered flag in second place with a gap of 2.158 seconds behind the winners. The decision about third position was only made in final lap. In the end, Edoardo Mortara, Christian Hohenadel, Dominik Baumann and Daniel Juncadella occupied this final place on the podium. After an exciting final push, the HTP-Mercedes-AMG GT3 with start number 47 forced their way past the WRT-Audi R8 LMS with number 8, the latter having started from pole position.
91 cars were on the starting grid for the prologue of the 24h classical long-distance race. The top teams underlined their ambitions from the very beginning of the race: Similar to a sprint race, eight teams were involved in an open battle the outcome of which was not decided until the very end. Apart from the pole setters, the Individual Sports Car SCG003C of the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus and the Aston Martin Vintage GT3 (car no. 7) collected some kilometres of leading the race at the longest and most demanding race track of the world, just as the Manthey-Porsche 911 GT3 R with car no. 912 and the second Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Black Falcon with number 4.
“What a fight! Nicky Catsburg was so close to us“, said the winner Yelmer Buurman. “That was an incredibly hard and exhausting fight. In particular as we got some traffic in the last two laps and then, all of a sudden, Nicky was right behind me, bumper to bumper. Finally, I was a bit more lucky in overtaking some cars that were a lap down and secured my position until the finish.” The second-placed crew was nevertheless also happy. Nicky Catsburg: “That was a fantastic race. I was driving that much as Martin and I had shared two cars for a long time. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to get past Yelmer anymore, but I was very close to it.”
