“There aren’t 2 without 3”
On the 27th of June the 3rd take on the endurance racing club series was held in the green hell, Nordschleife. This event was broadcasted live and used the live timing tool.
The about 500km long event (24 laps) was held in this driving demanding circuit with a somewhat unsettled weather that turned out give about 3 or 4 laps of rain and a 23 strong racer field (a starting record for this type of events).
As pointed above, not only this event broke the record of starters but also the almost 10000 views and 600 posts on the club forum topic testify once more to the interest there is in this kind of events.
As usually the qualifying in these events (endurance) has its limited importance, but a few GTP racers due to some misfortunes actually started behind the GTS ones, so to them the qualifying surely can’t be seen as irrelevant.
For the record the pole went for J. Andias (C6R) in the GTP with a 6.30 (2 laps, out lap mandatory) and the GTS pole went for M. Herrmann (M3) with a 6.58 (again 2 laps).
For the record the pole went for J. Andias (C6R) in the GTP with a 6.30 (2 laps, out lap mandatory) and the GTS pole went for M. Herrmann (M3) with a 6.58 (again 2 laps).
The red light went off and everyone went into the fist corner under a relatively blue sky. The fist turn can always be a problem on the narrow Nord, but once again testifying to the maturity of the field no major problems showed up and all 24 racers made it without any problem (only a small bump or two in the middle of the field).
The first DNF of the race happened about lap 3, this far from wanted “honor” went the non other than the 2 times 2nd placed of the previews endurance events, A. Ahmed (thistime with a Lister).
The things settled; before the rain made its appearance the early pace settlers were J. Andias, J. Johnson (CCGT) and G. Lennon (CCGT) in the GTP class; and M. Herrmann, P. Bártfai (Marcorelly) and S. WernerMarcorelly) in the GTS class.
About lap 4 the sky started to go darker & darker and the temperature actually went down a few degrees, not a surprise when about a lap later the rain made its appearance on the green hell. As apparently no one followed a “1 pit-stop only” race strategy, the rain was present from about a few laps earlier than the fist pit-stops to a few laps after.
After both the 1st pit-stops and the rain, (that had come & went) about lap 10, the things were the same regarding the leading GTP cars (with only the time difference between them to be somewhat bigger). In the GTST. Scurlock (C8) had been promoted to 3rd. About this time (lap 10 - 200 Km) a true decimation of field took place as no less than 5 racers went into the DNF gallery within a lap interval and among them the GTS class early leader M. Herrmann.
As the 2nd pit-stop neared (about lap 16) around another fatidic lap, 3 other racers went into the non wanted gallery of the DNFs, among them a long struggling M. Birney (Viper) and the until then 3rd placed in the GTP class G. Lennon.
Although classified, the last DNF of the race, as usual the unluckiest remark, went to J. Yates (C6R), 4th at the time on lap 20 when about 400 km were done under the wheels.
Until the finish the things kept stable in the GTP class, with a few promotions due to earlier abandonments, it is worth mentioning the entering to the 3rd place of J. Pitts (after the mentioned G. Lennon DNF at lap 16). On the contrary, the things in the GTS class were much closer as although the podium finishers were somewhat defined, 1st and 2nd were only separated by a few seconds. It is fair to say that in this last class the all field was spread out much closer throughout the race, especially in the top 4.
Once again the deserved finish came along (lap 24 – 500 km) and with it the accomplishment of 11 racers who did almost 3hrs of race (congratulations to all of them).
Race classification
GTP
1st J. Andias (C6R) 24 laps (class fastest lap 6.35) (1st at Spa, 1st at Paul Ricard)
2nd J. Johnson (CCGT) 24 laps. (3rd at Paul Ricard)
3rd J. Pitts (C6R) 24 laps. (3rd at Spa)
4th M. Usal (Apollo) 23 laps. (4th at Spa)
5th C. Rogerson (R8 GT) 23 laps. (1st GTC at Paul Ricard)
Not circulating but classified (75% race distance)2nd J. Johnson (CCGT) 24 laps. (3rd at Paul Ricard)
3rd J. Pitts (C6R) 24 laps. (3rd at Spa)
4th M. Usal (Apollo) 23 laps. (4th at Spa)
5th C. Rogerson (R8 GT) 23 laps. (1st GTC at Paul Ricard)
6th J. Yates (C6R) 20 laps. (DNF at Paul Ricard)
GTS
1st P. Bártfai (Marcorelly) 22 laps.
2nd T. Scurlock (C8) 22 laps. (DNF at Spa)
3rd N. Atkins (M3) 22 laps
4th S. Werner (Marcorelly) 22 laps. (7th at Spa, DNS at Paul Ricard)
5th F. Besens (Marcorelly) 21 laps. (DNF at Spa, DNF at Paul Ricard)
6th D. Zafiu (M3) 21 laps.
Non finishers (DNF) by race distance completed.2nd T. Scurlock (C8) 22 laps. (DNF at Spa)
3rd N. Atkins (M3) 22 laps
4th S. Werner (Marcorelly) 22 laps. (7th at Spa, DNS at Paul Ricard)
5th F. Besens (Marcorelly) 21 laps. (DNF at Spa, DNF at Paul Ricard)
6th D. Zafiu (M3) 21 laps.
G. Lennon (CCGT] 16 laps. (Accident, gave-up)
W. Fischer (M3) 16 laps. (Technical problems)
M. Birney (Viper) 16 laps. (Accident)
M. Hunter (Apollo) 10 laps. (Engine failure after accident)
B. Hengeveld (C5R) 10 laps. (Technical problems)
M. Herrmann (M3) 10 laps. (Technical problems) (Class fastest lap 7.07) (DNF at Spa)
M. Tam (Storm) 10 laps. (Unknown, gave-up)
R. Firicano (S7R) 9 laps. (Accident, gave-up)
K. Tveito (MT900R) 8 laps. (Pit problems)
I. Simons (C6) 7 laps. (Pit problems) (4th GTC at Paul Ricard)
A. Ahmed (Storm) 3 laps. (Engine failure after accident) (2nd at Spa, 2nd at Paul Ricard)
So, what do this numbers tell us? W. Fischer (M3) 16 laps. (Technical problems)
M. Birney (Viper) 16 laps. (Accident)
M. Hunter (Apollo) 10 laps. (Engine failure after accident)
B. Hengeveld (C5R) 10 laps. (Technical problems)
M. Herrmann (M3) 10 laps. (Technical problems) (Class fastest lap 7.07) (DNF at Spa)
M. Tam (Storm) 10 laps. (Unknown, gave-up)
R. Firicano (S7R) 9 laps. (Accident, gave-up)
K. Tveito (MT900R) 8 laps. (Pit problems)
I. Simons (C6) 7 laps. (Pit problems) (4th GTC at Paul Ricard)
A. Ahmed (Storm) 3 laps. (Engine failure after accident) (2nd at Spa, 2nd at Paul Ricard)
- Well, the number of non finishers kept more or less the same of the other 2 previews events, a little bit less than 50% of the starters finished the event (this event was the 2nd longest in time and the longest in distance run).
- Once again the most closely contested class was the less powerful (engine hp) in this case, GTS.
- This time there were no direct DNF related with engine management (don’t mistake with accident followed by engine failure) and the Nordschleife isn’t known to be soft on the engine department either.
- The rain made its appearance for the first time in these events but short of a few small bumps no one had a major exit due to the dump track.
- There is still a warring number of technical problems and pit problems but its total number is about the same of the number of people who gave-up in non terminal situations (engine still working).
- The Nordschleife (virtually) isn’t that unforgiving as the relatively large number of people with engine failure after accident was not as a direct result of a single accident, but due to the many (more or less) small accidents until a “final one” resulted in a last strain to the engine.