N24 – Green Hell Takes Another Victim

The 24 Hours of Nurburgring is arguably the toughest race in the world. We started the race in P5 and had a very strong opening two hours. We were running the tank long to retrieve an extra lap which would benefit us later on in the race, and the plan was working well, however small mistakes can have big consequences.

Firstly Simone made contact with the wall on the left side of his car just prior to the second pit stop, damaging the suspension in the process and costing us some straight line speed.

The lap times had dropped slightly and we were racing with RSO and Pure Racing Team managing the traffic, when a race ending crash would ensue. Simone had thought he had cleared a Mazda MX-5, but came across the nose and making extremely heavy contact with the wall. Simone did recover the car back to the pits, and we took as much repairs as we could, however with Alexander Lauritzen now at the wheel, the car had too much damage to safely continue without risking the field. The unenviable decision was made to retire the car and end our race on Lap 25.

It was not the result we were looking for and mistakes happen from time to time. However on the positive side it was a great build up for all of the team, of which we would like to pay tribute to our guest drivers Alex and Dion who were invaluable throughout the week. We bid them a fond farewell as they return to their usual teams, and we look forward to seeing them out on track in the coming races.

We will be back for redemption in 2020 as we leave with plenty of unfinished business.