Schubert Motorsport win action packed NLS 3
- Benjamin Crundwell
- 1 minute ago
- 4 min read
By pitting early in the opening stint, Schubert Motorsport's gamble paid off and the No.77 BMW crossed the line first after four hours of extremely hard fought GT3 racing on the Nürburgring.
(read the report for the first half of the race here)
Race Midpoint Top 5
No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO
No.47 KCMG Mercedes-AMG GT3
No.23 Gamota Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO
No.911 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R
No.44 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R
Just before the two hour mark, the No.44 Falken Motorsport Porsche was given an 87 second penalty for speeding in a code 60, however the penalty never had an opportunity to ruin the No.44's race, as the Porsche picked up a puncture while running over debris and had to pull off at Höhe Acht.
Remarkably, the Falken Motorsports mechanics drove round to Höhe Acht to replace the tyre and get the car back in the race without needing to be towed, but in 82nd place overall.
The No.61 HWA EVO.R (built using an old Mercedes 190E chassis) is driven on nostalgia, however this was not enough, as it also had to pull off the track at the midpoint of the race. The No.62 HWA EVO.R had better success, finishing 18th overall.
The No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW jumped ahead of the pole sitting No.47 KCMG Mercedes by pitting early in the first stint for a lower minimum pit time (the same trick was used by the No.911 Manthey Porsche). Its lead was maintained after the second stops, while the No.47 had to fight off the No.7 Konrad Motorsport, which jumped back into the top five.
Ayhancan Güven spent the best part of the second stint chasing the No.23 BMW, then glued his No.911 Porsche to the back of the BMW from the Caracciola-Karussell to Pflanzgarten but got separated by traffic through a code 60. This bought the No.65 HRT Ford Mustang into play, which overtook the Porsche on the Döttinger Höhe.
Dennis Olsen's Ford took over the task of attempting an overtake on the No.23, but Moritz Kranz' defence was too strong for the overtake to happen despite being tail to bumper with the Ford for three laps.
With an hour and 10 minutes to go, the No.47 KCMG car gambled on an early stop, pitting earlier even than the No.77 and No.911 which was expected to pit before the rest of the SP9 field.
The No.47 re took the lead 25 minutes later, when the No.77 and No.911 cars pit for the final time. Unfortunately, the KCMG car was handed an 85 second time penalty for not respecting a code 60, which they served a lap later while the No.65 Ford and No.23 BMW pit.
Both the No.23 BMW and No.65 Ford changed driver, and the two cars finally changed position as Vincent Kolb drove around the outside of the No.23 in Hocheichen. The No.911 did not waste time in its chase of the Ford for second place, also getting past the No.23 at its first opportunity.
Before completing their first round of the Nordschleife after pitting, the Porsche caught the Ford. After following the Ford for a lap, Güven ran into the back of Kolb coming into a slow zone, fortunately both cars survived the contact.
Rejoining the Nordschleife on the next lap, Güven dive bombed the Ford into Sabine-Schmitz-Kurve to secure second place for the No.911 Porsche which started 15th.
On the same lap, the No. 900 and No.901 Cup 2 cars also locked horns for second place in their class. The battle became a fight for the lead two laps from the chequered flag, when the No.921 car stopped from the lead of the Cup 2 class. Yellow flags created a gap between the two cars on the final lap, and the No.901 won the class.
Robin Frijns drove the No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW home, to secure BMW's second consecutive NLS victory, this time with Phillip Eng, Marco Wittmann and Frijns at the wheel.
Both the No.911 Manthey Porsche and No.65 HRT Ford fought back well from a grid position outside the top 10, finishing second and third respectively. Despite serving an 85 second stop-and-go penalty in the final hour of the race, the No.47 KCMG Mercedes finished in fourth place, although they will be wondering what might have been as they finished 85.6 seconds behind the winner.
The top five was rounded out by the No.75 Max Kruse Audi, which won the AT 1 class for cars using alternate fuel sources.
The next round of the NLS series will take place next weekend for the 24h Qualifiers. A four hour race will take place both on Saturday and Sunday.
Race Top 5
No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO
No.911 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R
No.65 Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang GT3
No.47 KCMG Mercedes-AMG GT3
No.75 Max Kruse Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (AT 1)
