Black Falcon in top form

Superior performance with overall victory and several class wins.

For the highlight of the VLN Endurance Championship, the six-hour race at the Nürburgring, the Black Falcon team presented itself in a convincing winning mood: Overall victory, three class victories and a second and third place – that’s the impressive overall record for the 7th VLN race. Thus the team from Meuspath can also add its first overall victory in a 6-hour race to its already extensive winning record. The fact that this performance was possible in the longest and most demanding race of the VLN season makes it all the more sweet.

In particularly difficult and changing weather conditions, and with extremely high levels of stress on man and machine due to the extended duration of the race, the team was able to achieve great results at all levels. Especially the strategic decision to send all cars into the race on wet tyres turned out to be absolutely correct. Even the later change to slicks worked smoothly and with perfect timing.

The drivers Hubert Haupt, Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al Faisal, Adam Christodoulou and Yelmer Buurman in the SLS AMG GT3 with start number 2 were able to crown themselves as overall and class winners in the SP9 class. They had already managed to fight their way forward from eighth place in the first two rounds and then constantly stayed in the leading group thanks to fast lap times and a continuously good strategy, finally passing the chequered flag before the rest.

No less impressive is the victory of the Black Falcon Team TMD Friction-Porsche "991 Cup BF" with the starting number 58 and the drivers "Gerwin" and Manuel Metzger in the SP7 class. After spectacular times in training of the previous race, the two drivers were this time able to impress with top lap times during the race too, ultimately deservedly winning the race in this highly competitive class. Even a time penalty of 45 seconds due to speeding in a Slow Zone shortly before the end of the race could not keep the two from the winner’s podium – their lead was simply too big at this point in the race. In addition to the excellent driving skills, the great team effort in the development and coordination of the wide body chassis and faultless reconstruction after the accident in the preceding VLN race also played an important part in the recent success.

There were also some great results in the V6 class up to 3.5 litres: After an ongoing tough battle for the top three spots over the entire race distance, the drivers Andre Kuhn and “Philip” with the starting number 395 were able to secure second place in their class in their Porsche 991 Carrera.

After contact with a rival car and the according, repair-related pit stop, their teammates Aurel Schoeller, Sören Spreng and Daniel Schwerfeld still managed to fight their way to third place in the sister car with the starting number 394 in the V6 class. What is particularly worth noting is the fact that the three of them fought their way all the way from last place into the leading group with fighting spirit and fast lap times in this highly competitive V6 class!

Again perfect – both in technical as well as driving terms – was the performance of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the H4 class with Jürgen Bleul, Carsten Knechtges and Tobias Nell. For the starting number 600 this was already the fifth victory in a row, letting the experienced race drivers set new standards.

The only failure of this successful racing weekend hit the Porsche Cayman, with the starting number 460 and the drivers Jens Wasel, Max Kronberg, Christian Bjørn-Hansen and Runar Vatne. The last three drivers must be particularly mentioned for making their VLN debut in the V5 class with up to 3 litre engine capacity. In difficult weather conditions, however, the car already came off the track in the early stages of the race, touched the crash barrier and was unfortunately not able to finish the race due to a broken suspension.

“The entire team is very happy about the outstanding results and feels rewarded for the hard work of the past weeks. With five podium positions out of a total of six vehicles that started, crowned by the overall victory of the SLS AMG GT3, Black Falcon has again underlined its potential when it comes to technical and driving performance”, explained Team Manager Susanne Roth after the race. “We now hope that we can repeat these results in the next VLN race in four weeks.“

A 30-minute roundup of the seventh VLN race will be broadcast on the TV station Sport 1 on September 12 at 5:15pm CET.