Walkenhorst Motorsport put in a strong performance at the second round of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie and fought for overall victory right to the end of the race.
The second round of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie is now behind Walkenhorst Motorsport. The racing team from Melle entered five cars in the ADAC Ruhrpott Trophy. In addition to three Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and the Hyundai i30N, the team fielded the new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for the first time.
‘A big compliment to the entire team for the strong team performance in the race! We were able to learn a lot for the 24-hour race and are very confident about the endurance classic in June after the team performance and our speed,’ said team founder Henry Walkenhorst.
In the team’s top car, the two Aston Martin works drivers Christian Krognes and Mattia Drudi took the wheel of the #34 car. Krognes, who is one of the fastest drivers on the Nordschleife, drove to a strong fourth place on the grid. In the race, the car was consistently in the leading group of the largest NLS field in three years. On the final lap, Krognes took the previously leading car by surprise and was the first to see the chequered flag. However, the car received a time penalty of 37 seconds because the vehicle fell short of the prescribed minimum standing time during the last pit stop – as a result, the duo was classified in second place.
Nico Hantke, who was celebrating his GT3 debut on the Nordschleife, and Walkenhorst regular Anders Buchardt competed in the SP9 Pro-Am class. The duo drove to third place in the class and achieved a strong result. Stefan Aust, Christian Bollrath and Jörg Breuer drove another Vantage GT3 in the Am category. The car suffered a clutch failure at the start of the race, which the Walkenhorst team had to repair and lost a lot of time as a result. After successful repairs, the car was able to return to the Nordschleife and collect further data.
In the GT4 class, Walkenhorst Motorsport fielded an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for the first time. Niklas Abrahamsen, Hermann Vortkamp and Aris Balanian took turns in the cockpit of the car. But the race debut ended prematurely. On the starting lap, the Norwegian Abrahamsen had a serious accident in the Hohe Acht. The Norwegian was able to leave the car unharmed.
The car line-up was rounded off by the Hyundai i30N in the VT2 FWD class, which was driven by Josh Hansen, Oliver Söderström and Tom Edgar. The three drivers were able to gain important experience on the legendary race track. The US-American Hansen and Edgar were also able to gain Permit A and will be competing on the Nordschleife with more powerful vehicles in the future.
‘Of course it’s annoying that we missed out on overall victory due to the time penalty, but the speed of our Vantage GT3 was very good! We also achieved a strong result in the SP9 Pro-Am with third place in the class and we were able to collect important data in the SP9 Am. The retirement of our Vantage GT4 in the starting phase of the race is very frustrating, but we are relieved that Niklas was able to get out of the car largely uninjured after the serious accident,’ adds Managing Director Jörg Breuer.
The ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie will continue in two weeks time with the 56th Adenauer Rundstrecken Trophy. Walkenhorst Motorsport will be competing with two Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Before that, the team from Lower Saxony will compete in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch in the UK next weekend.