Turbulent VLN season finale for BLACK FALCON

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The finale of the 2017 VLN championship saw Team BLACK FALCON involved in a breath-taking battle for the lead over the majority of the four-hour race, which ended with the team’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 taking an excellent class win in SP9 and second place overall from 145 starters. This repeated the team’s result in the previous, penultimate round, and brought the team’s tally of class podium finishes during the 2017 season to an impressive 18 trophies. Team BLACK FALCON continued their long-standing partnership with AMG during 2017, proudly representing the brand in VLN and bringing home two of AMG’s best results with second overall at VLN 8 and 9, to reinforce Haribo Racing’s second place at VLN 2, as well as finishing as the best Mercedes-AMG at the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

Team BLACK FALCON entered a quartet of cars in VLN 9 across four classes. The driver squad for the instantly recognisable, bright yellow #7 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in SP9 comprised Maro Engel (Germany), Hubert Haupt (Germany) and Erik Johansson (Sweden), and the team’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 continued its development programme in SPX in the hands of Stefan Karg (Germany), Aurel Schoeller (Germany) and Adam Christodoulou (United Kingdom). BLACK FALCON Team TMD Friction covered two Porsche entries: the #420 Porsche 991 Carrera was driven by Alexander Akimenkov (Russian Federation), Axel König (Germany), Fidel Leib (Germany) and Vasilii Selivanov (Russian Federation) in the V6 class, while in V5 the roster for the #448 Porsche 981 Cayman was Alexander Böhm (Germany), Christoph Hoffmann (Germany) and Charles Oakes (Luxembourg). 

A grim morning greeted Team BLACK FALCON for Qualifying, but the track was dry at first and times were surprisingly quick. However, the clouds darkened as the session progressed and rain lashed the track during the latter stages. With 20 minutes to go, #420 hit the barriers where the cars join the Nordschleife from the Grand Prix loop. The car was damaged down its lefthand side, but the Team BLACK FALCON mechanics leapt into action and #420 was repaired in plenty of time to take the race start. Although #420 had already set a time that was the fastest in the V6 class, the repairs meant they were unable to take up their grid slot and would start the race from the pits. #7 was looking likely set a particularly quick time, but with conditions worsening the team decided to abort and settle for ninth rather than risk the car. The #52 crew lined up fifth in SPX, right with two other Mercedes-AMG GT4 entries and behind two quicker development GT3 cars competing in the same category. #448 would start in 110th overall, eighth in the V5 class. 

There was an action-packed first hour at the Nürburgring for VLN 9. The rain eased in time for the massed rolling starts that commenced with the leading GT3, GT4 and Cup cars at midday, but they collectively threw up an enormous amount of spray that hung over the track. Hubert in #7 and Adam in #52 stormed across the line, fighting through the mist on the run to the first corner; both cars made it cleanly through the opening Grand Prix loop, and a couple of minutes later the two BLACK FALCON Team TMD Friction Porsches also appeared through the spray: Fidel in #420 and Charles in #448. Hubert put in a fantastic opening stint, pushing hard on the opening lap and making the most of the team’s decision to fit the Mercedes with wet tyres. He revelled in the slippery conditions, putting constant pressure on the leading trio ahead all the way round the fearsome Nordschleife, showing incredible confidence in both the car and its tyres. Just half an hour in, some teams took the risk of swapping to cut slicks, which included the #420 and #448 Porsches. Hubert also dived into the pits soon after, swapping tyres to pre-empt the drying conditions. As the leading cars pitted around the one hour mark, #7 began to inexorably move up the order, and as the order shook out would lead the race in the second hour through its inspired offset strategy. #52 was up in 16th, third in SPX, and #420 66th, leading V6, but then the Fidel had a heart-in-mouth moment entering the final chicane, the car spinning and glancing the barriers on the left of the track. Several other cars also spun in the same area, an oil spill the cause of the incidents. Fidel got #420 back to the garage, but unfortunately the damage was severe and repairs would take well over an hour. #448 was circulating in 105th at this stage, eighth in V5. 

There was frantic battle through the second hour between #7 and the chasing second-placed Porsche, but Hubert continued to hold off the challenge to #7’s lead. At 13:45, Hubert dived into the pits for the car’s second early stop, handing over to Maro in the process. Again, the places lost during the stop were gained back as other cars carried out their own later pit-stops, and by 14:20 Maro was back into the lead. #52 continued to be the fastest of the three Mercedes-AMG GT4 in the race, still 16th overall. The third quarter of the race saw the exciting battle for first position continue, Maro fighting hard to retain the lead on every corner of every lap. The good news was that #420 was able to return to the track in the third hour, with the hope that if any problems struck other cars in V6 a podium could still be achievable. However, soon after Axel was involved in an incident with another competitor when he was bumped in the rear and pushed into the barrier, causing damage to the nose. Luckily, the car's cooling system remained intact and #420 continued to race. 

#7’s final driver change took place at 14:50, with Erik strapped into the Mercedes for the run to the flag. Again the team had to wait for other teams to cycle through their pit-stops to confirm their real position: #7 ended up second with 45 minutes to go. A brief rain shower caused an intake of breath back in the pits – though it passed as quickly as it arrived, giving a straight half hour run to the finish. Just as #52 looked on for a good finish, Aurel had two accidents in quick succession. The first resulted in minor damage to the car. The second accident however, involved another competitor and it brought the car’s fine run to an end. Erik fought as hard as he could to close on the leader over the final 30 minutes, setting excellent lap times in #7 and negotiating the constant traffic to get to within 10 seconds of the lead. However, the team knew they’d need a splash-and-dash pitstop for fuel on the very last lap, so Erik also had to push to increase the gap to third. His efforts were rewarded: the time to third was enough for #7 to take on its sip of fuel and rejoin without losing position, and Erik crossed the line after 28 laps to take both the SP9 class win and the second overall podium in a row for #7. 

Both the team’s Porsches came home despite their challenges: the crew of #448 put in a fine recovery drive to finish in 76th overall, sixth in V5. The result also meant that Christoph achieved his Grade A licence for next season. After its difficult race and Herculean work of the mechanics, #420 finished 123rd, fourth in V6, but sadly was unclassified in the official results due to not completing the sufficient number laps.

It’s been a strong end to the VLN season for Team BLACK FALCON, but there’s still a lot more racing to come for the team: 24 hours, in fact. The team will be heading across the Atlantic with their Mercedes-AMG GT3 and GT4 cars to participate in the 24H COTA USA round-the-clock enduro, to be held at the home of the US Grand Prix, the Circuit Of The Americas. You can support Team BLACK FALCON across all social media platforms: follow the team via twitter.com/TeamBlackFalcon, facebook.com/teamblackfalcon/ and instagram.com/teamblackfalcon to get live action updates direct from the tracks, as well as fantastic images of the team in action.

RACE DATES

24H ENDURANCE SERIES

24H COTA USA: 10-12 November