Weekly Racing Roundup (7.10.23)

Falken Takes New Porsche’s First NLS Win

David Pittard and Joel Eriksson won Saturday’s six-hour NLS race for Falken Motorsports, delivering the first Nürburgring victory for the new Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

It initially looked as though Falken would celebrate a 1-2 result in the ADAC Ruhr Cup, but the team’s second-placed Porsche driven by Martin Ragginger and Dennis Fetzer was excluded post-race for running with a non-compliant rear wing angle.

That promoted the Schnitzelalm Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Patrick Assenheimer, Marcel Marchewicz and Tim Neuser to second, and inflated the winning margin to three minutes.

Frank Stippler had a promising start from pole position for Scherer Sport PHX, but an early puncture curtailed the Audi team’s run.

There were also separate dramas for the two Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3s, including steering wheel issues for the No. 34 car that started from second on the grid, which helped to pave the way for a Falken 1-2 after the opening round of pit stops.

Pittard and Eriksson then commanded the bulk of the race to take the first non-BMW win of the season, after four consecutive victories for the Munich-based manufacturer.

“It was a perfect race,” said Pittard, who added to his Nürburgring 24 overall win with Ferrari’s Frikadelli Racing Team earlier this year.

“The team welcomed me very well and I felt very comfortable in the Porsche right away.”

RESULTS: ADAC Ruhr Cup

New Points Leaders in GT Masters

Nico Menzel and Jannes Fittje won the second of two ADAC GT Masters races at the Norisring and moved into the ADAC GT Masters points lead in the process.

The drivers of the Huber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R finished second in the opening 60-minute contest before going one better the following day.

That put them one point above Sven Mueller and Finn Gehrsitz in the championship standings after four races.

The event started with a lights-to-flag victory for the Landgraf Motorsport pairing of Salman Owega and Elias Seppanen, who beat Menzel and Fittje by 4.3 seconds.

Menzel managed to keep an attacking Mueller at bay during the opening part of Race 2, but an overcut pit strategy from Team Joos by Racemotion thrust Gehrsitz into the lead.

Despite losing the place, Fittje fought back and dived underneath Gehrsitz when the Joos Porsche driver ran wide at Dutzendteich, paving the way for Huber’s maiden series win.

Tim Zimmermann and Jaxon Evans, who arrived at the Norisring as the points leaders, completed a sweep of the podium for Porsche entries.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Other Racing Action & News

***Giancarlo Fisichella and Tommaso Mosca continued their strong start to the Italian GT Championship season by winning the second long-distance race of the year at Mugello. The Scuderia Baldini Ferrari duo overcame a success handicap from their victory at Enna in May, along with multiple safety car periods and other interruptions, to come out on top. Entries from Ceccato Racing and Imperiale Racing completed the podium. Results

***There were two different winning crews in the third round of the Prototype Cup Germany season at the Norisring, which was a rare instance of LMP3 cars racing on a street circuit. Markus Pommer and Gary Hauser took the Race 1 spoils sharing a Racing Experience Duqueine D08 Nissan. Another Duqueine, the Koiranan Kemppi Motorsport example of Laurents Hoerr and Matthias Luethen, took the next victory. Race 1 / Race 2

***After winning one of the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club rounds at Spa the previous weekend, Ricardo van der Ende and Benjamin Lessennes swept the FFSA French GT meeting at Val de Vienne. The L’Espace Bienvenue BMW pairing twice finished around five seconds ahead of Teddy and Jimmy Clairet’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Race 1 / Race 2

***The Super Taikyu series was back in action at Sugo after a 24-hour race at Fuji in late May. TKRI Motorsports won the three-hour ‘Group 1’ race with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo driven by ‘Daisuke’, Yuhki Nakayama and Yuya Motojima. The winning car finished 20 seconds clear of the Helm Motorsports Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. Results

***Aston Martin team D’station Racing and Toyota Gazoo Racing Indonesia have committed to the standalone GT4 Japan pilot races at Okayama next month. Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama are confirmed for D’station while Haridarma Manoppo and Nonaka Seita will line up in the Indonesian Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo.

***GT4 cars will remain integrated into the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS grid at Suzuka this weekend. A total of 37 cars are signed up for the event.

On this weekend: European Le Mans Series (Paul Ricard), Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup (Misano), ADAC GT Masters (Nürburgring)