Protyre News
14th place for Falken at the NLS season highlight
By Julia Freeman
After a break of several weeks the "ROWE 6 Stunden ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen", the season highlight of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS), was on the program. 159 vehicles registered for the race, which is considered the dress rehearsal for the ADAC 24h race (24-27 September 2020). As usual Falken brought two Porsche 911 GT3 R to the Eifel.
The qualifying, like the whole race later, took place under dry weather conditions. Klaus Bachler, Matteo Cairoli, Peter Dumbreck and Martin Ragginger (#4) achieved the 14th starting position with a lap time of 8:02.886 minutes. Christian Engelhart, Sven Müller, Thomas Preining and Dirk Werner drove 8:05.569 minutes and started in the #3 sister car from the 23rd position.
The field was sent on its way punctually at 12 noon and was enthusiastically celebrated by the fans, who were allowed to be there live on the Grand Prix circuit for the first time this season. Klaus Bachler got off to an excellent start with the #4 and was able to win a few places. In the further course of his stint, he worked his way up to fifth place and handed over the Falken Porsche to Peter Dumbreck after six laps. The Scot and his colleagues were equally convincing with fast lap times. After 4.5h the quartet even took the lead at short time thanks to a good pit stop strategy.
In a promising position, however, Dumbreck rolled out one hour before the end of the race in the "Eschbach" section. The reason was a technical issue, caused by a previous contact with another vehicle during an overtaking maneuver.
Meanwhile, team mates Engelhart/Müller/Preining/Werner drove a solid race with the #3 and crossed the finish line in 14th place after 41 laps.
"Our performance is better than today's results suggest. We were able to collect a lot of important data for the 24h race in four weeks and are optimally prepared regarding setup and team for both cars", explained Stefanie Olbertz from Falken.
The NLS is taking a longer break now. The next race, the "45th DMV Münsterlandpokal", will take place on October 24, 2020 over the usual 4h distance.
