GTWC – Gold Cup podium and a strong comeback at the Nürburgring

Our Nürburgring weekend came to an end this Sunday with an intense three-hour race for both of our Porsche 911 GT3 R, with a podium finish in Gold Cup for the #10 and a strong comeback from the #2 in the Pro category.

The #10 on the Gold Cup podium

For our #10 Porsche, the race ended with a P2 in Gold Cup and 8th overall.

Joining our crew for this round, Nico Menzel immediately found his rhythm, attacking from the very first minutes of the race. He then handed the car over to Robin Knutsson, followed by Gilles Magnus, with both drivers fighting hard against the #99 Audi for the Gold Cup victory.

Throughout the three hours, the two cars left very little between them. Despite a constant battle for the lead, our Porsche eventually crossed the line in second place in class. Another strong performance from the crew, even if victory slipped away from us this time.

A promising comeback for the #2

For our #2, the race was a little more eventful.

A Full Course Yellow that came just after our pit stop cost us valuable time compared to the cars that had remained on track and were therefore able to pit under the FCY. As a result, our Porsche dropped back to beyond P40.

But the team never gave up. Thanks to an ambitious strategy from our engineers, the #2 gradually fought its way back through the field, climbing all the way up to P3.

At that point, we knew that the remaining stint time would be too long to finish the race in that position. The options were either to make another pit stop or take a penalty for exceeding the maximum stint time. The strategic choice was ultimately to take the stint-length penalty rather than make a full pit stop. At 23 seconds, this was the option that allowed us to minimise the time lost to our competitors at that stage of the race. The strategy was also based on the possibility of a further FCY or red flag, but neither came before the chequered flag.

Our trio of Alessio Picariello, Dorian Boccolacci and Morris Schuring therefore finished the race P12 in Pro. A strong comeback nonetheless, considering the huge amount of ground lost after the first hour of racing.

Naturally, the result is frustrating given the pace we showed and the comeback we managed to make, with the podium very much within reach in the final stages of the race had another neutralisation occurred.

At the end of the weekend, both of our Porsches leave the Nürburgring with plenty of positives to take away. Once again, the team showed its ability to fight until the very end, whatever the circumstances, and to demonstrate strong execution both on track and behind the scenes.

Next stop: Zandvoort, where two Sprint races await us for the next chapter of the season.