24h Race Nürburgring: Mixed emotions for BLACK FALCON

Hits: 2882

24h-Race Nürburgring - Race Report

After the shortest race in the history of the 24h Nürburgring, the results of the three BLACK FALCON cars turned out to be highly varied: In the Mercedes-AMG GT4 (#36) of the BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR, Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, Gabriele Piana, Mike Stursberg and Ersin Yücesan won the SP8T class after a thrilling battle. In the strong CUP3 class, the TEXTAR Porsche Cayman GT4 (#308) crossed the finish line in sixth place. The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR SP PRO (#350) of the BLACK FALCON Team IDENTICA did not finish the race after an accident.
The 49th edition of the endurance classic started on Saturday afternoon in difficult track conditions. After a tough choice of tyres due to drizzle in the early stages, heavy rain from the 3rd lap onwards caused extreme aquaplaning and chaotic conditions on the track. After six hours, the race had to be interrupted at 9.30 pm due to dense fog. Only after more than 14 hours the race was re-started on Sunday morning, which was followed by a sprint race over roughly four hours.

BLACK FALCON Team IDENTICA
After three class wins in the last three editions of the 24h Nürburgring, BLACK FALCON Team IDENTICA failed to finish this year for the first time. After a strong performance in the qualifying sessions, Noah Nagelsdiek, Florian Naumann, Carlos Rivas and Hendrik von Danwitz had set themselves a top 15 result as their goal with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR SP-PRO (#350). But unfortunately, the fast and well-balanced quartet lacked the necessary racing luck this time: In heavy rain, the car crashed in the Schwedenkreuz section of the track in the early stages and was irreparably damaged.

BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR
The BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR sent two cars into the race: The Porsche Cayman GT4 (#308) started in the CUP3 class featuring a strong field of ten cars. Alexander Akimenkov, "Iceman", Vasilii Selivanov and Tobias Wahl took turns at the wheel of the Porsche. After a time penalty in practice, the quartet started from the back of the field and made up many positions in the early stages. However, the race interruption came at the worst possible time, as the team fell behind the leaders by a lap and thus lost the connection to the first five cars in the class. The shortened race duration made it even more difficult to catch up. In the end, final driver Selivanov brought the Cayman GT4 to the finish line in a conciliatory sixth place in class.

In the SP8T class, Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, Gabriele Piana, Mike Stursberg and Ersin Yücesan dominated the qualifying sessions with the Mercedes-AMG GT4 (#36) and started the race from first place in the SP8T class. In the course of the first race hours, the team built up a lead of several minutes over the runners-up. However, the comfortable lead melted down to a few car lengths due to the interruption and the restart. After the restart, the team fought an intense duel with the competitors, which was only decided in favour of the #36 on the penultimate lap. After a strong performance, final driver Yücesan crossed the finish line in an excellent 26th place overall and as class winner in the SP8T class. 

BLACK FALCON - Head of Motorsport Timo Frings:
"For the team, the 24h - week was a particularly big challenge, because for the first time we had a second event on the same weekend with the Le Mans Cup on the schedule. For this reason, we didn't have more than three cars in action at the 24h Nürburgring this time. We are particularly pleased with the class win and the excellent 26th overall place of the AMG GT4, winning the SP8T class at the 24h race had been on our wish list for a long time. With the Cayman GT4 we had expected more after the victory in the 24h Qualy race, unfortunately we had an unfavourable tyre strategy and a slight off track with this car at the start. Due to the additional pit stops, our track position at the stop was so unfavourable that we were unable to make up the lap deficit in view of the strong competition. Of course, the early retirement of the IDENTICA - Porsche hurts even more, but other teams were hit much harder than us, it was just extreme conditions - typical 24h Nürburgring!
My thanks go to the BLACK FALCON drivers, our partners and the entire team, who mastered this challenging week so excellently!"