Drivers of the ADAC GT Masters celebrated several successes at the first edition of the 12 Hours of Nürburgring – Only one was very unlucky
Several ADAC GT Masters drivers took part in the inaugural edition of the 12 Hours of Nürburgring and scored several successes. The bird was of course shot down by Sven Müller, who took the overall victory as part of the Falken team. It was the second victory in a row for Schnabl Engineering’s turquoise-blue Porsche 911 GT3 R in the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS).
The Allied Racing driver from the ADAC GT Masters shared the cockpit with Jaxon Evans, who contested two races for ID Racing during the season, among others. The other two drivers were Joel Eriksson (familiar from last season with Bernhard in the German GT Championship) and Alessio Picariello, 2013 ADAC Formula Masters champion and multiple starter in the ADAC GT Masters.
The Porsche prevailed on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife against the 16 Phoenix Audi, which Rutronik driver Kim-Luis Schramm shared with former Masters driver Jakub “Kuba” Giermaziak. The Audi was on course for victory until Schramm ran out of fuel. Giermaziak/Schramm were only 15.222 seconds behind at the finish line.
A little less fortunate than their teammates were Ayhancan Güven, this year’s title contender at Joos Sportwagentechnik, and Klaus Bachler (ID Racing with Herberth/Dinamic Motorsport). Bachler had an accident in the second Falken Porsche during qualifying on Saturday morning. The Porsche was able to start the race properly but didn’t have the speed of the 3, finishing P6.
One place behind, Landgraf Motorsport finished with the Mercedes-AMG GT3. The team, which currently leads the overall standings of the German GT Championship with Raffaele Marciello, brought its Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Patrick Assenheimer, Luca-Sandro “Luci” Trefz (both ex-starters in the Masters) and Julien Apotheloz over the distance without any problems.
Masters victory also in the SP9 Pro-Am
Another success for drivers from the ADAC GT Masters was brought home by Team Car Collection. Leon Köhler (one race for ID Racing), Simon Reicher (Eastalent Racing), Florian Spengler (also in the Masters Car Collection) and Nordschleife specialist Jörg Viebahn won the SP9 Pro-Am with seventh overall by three and a half minutes.
The sister car 23 for a long time on Saturday, was unlucky. A puncture in the last minutes of the first half of the race lost huge ground. Patric Niederhaus, driving for Rutronik Racing in the ADAC GT Masters, and his teammates Lorenzo Rocco, Patrick Kolb, Milan Dontje and Dennis Fetzer ultimately finished in 39th place, ten laps down.
Of the “Permit drivers”, i.e. starters who drove a small car for their DMSB Permit Nordschleife (DPN) A, Jan Marschalkowski (ZVO Racing) took a second place in the VT2 front-wheel-drive class.
Konsta Lappalainen (Emil Frey Racing) and Juuso Puhakka (Madpanda Motorsport) competed together in a Schnitzelalm Racing BMW M240i. They finished fourth in their class.
Nico Menzel, commentator for the ADAC GT Masters races on Nitro, was very unlucky. The Porsche 911 GT3 R from Huber Motorsport was not even able to start the race after an accident during the set-up runs on Friday.
