Long distance: Fast, but not too happy Swiss 🎥
THE Swiss drivers were on top of their game at both the season opener at the Nürburgring and the 12H Mugello. However, only one team managed to win.
Whereas the early kick-off of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) on the same weekend a year ago had to be cancelled due to overnight snowfall, last Saturday the 126 teams took to the wheels for the first 4-hour race of 2022 in glorious spring weather. Although some Swiss drivers started in top GT3 sports cars, none made it onto the podium.
Good GT3 debut for Ricardo Feller
With a 40-second gap to the winning Manthey Porsche, called "Grello," of Vanthoor/Christensen/Makowiecki, the Phoenix Audi driven by Ricardo Feller finished fourth. The 21-year-old from Aargau once again amazed with the third-best time in qualifying - at his first GT3 event on the Nordschleife - and the lead after his starting stint. A subsequent 35-second time penalty for an offense under yellow (code 60) threw Feller and his two partners Kuba Giermaziak (PL) and Kim-Luis Schramm (D) back to 7th place.
Nico Müller was also well on his way to the podium with Christopher Haase after the German had done impeccable work in front of him. However, a puncture cost the Audi duo a lot of time and subsequently only allowed sixth place overall.
M&M with strong recovery
The opposite was the case for Manuel Metzger, Raffaele Marciello and Luca Stolz. Their Mercedes-AMG (gallery left) only started from 18th place after contact in qualifying.
The race then went much better for the driver from Thurgau, Ticino and Germany. P5 at the finish with a gap of just under 41 seconds became fourth place after the penalty against the Feller Audi.
Team-mate Philip Ellis in the second HRT-Mercedes, on which team owner Hubert Haupt also entered the race, lost three laps to the front runners due to a defective alternator and finished 15th and last in the top class SP9.
Patric Niederhauser was the third Swiss or ASS-licensed driver to make it into the top 10 alongside Metzger and Marciello. However, a Code 60 offense also threw his Audi back two positions to 11th place.
Two Swiss at the top of the table
Mauro Calamia, Ivan Jacoma and the German Kai Riemer were responsible for the only Swiss class victory. With a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (gallery on the right), they won the newly launched Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring by Manthey Racing. In the process, they left twelve other teams with identical Cup3 vehicles behind them.
Since a new points system will apply in the NLS from 2022, which no longer favors the best from the classes with the largest number of entrants, the trio is tied at the top of the standings with other winners from classes with at least seven starting cars.
Lucky break for Frédéric Yerly
The two Germans Marek Schaller and Matthias Wasel fought with their Max Kruse Racing teammates from the start for the lead in SP3T. Shortly after Frédéric Yerly had taken over the VW Golf GTI TCR (center gallery) for the last third of the race, a wheel broke off due to a sheared bolt. Fortunately, it happened on the GP circuit, so that no accident was the consequence, but only a time-consuming pit stop to change the wheel hub.
So this still resulted in second place in class with three classified teams. In qualifying, the defending champion in the class winner's trophy had managed the fastest Nordschleife lap ever with this car with 8'42.9.
Ranko Mijatovic and his two partners achieved a strong second place in the new V2T-4WD class with a BMW 330i over nine equal teams of opponents. In this class, turbo production cars with a maximum displacement of two liters and 215 kW of power compete against each other. The front-wheel-drive cars now compete in their own class.
Roland Schmid finished fourth in class with his BMW team. With chances of a podium finish in the top production car class V6, Philipp Hagnauer's Porsche Cayman S retired with fuel supply problems.
Premier winner in the 24H Series
There was no Swiss success, but there were some podium finishes, for the Swiss at the 12H Mugello in Tuscany. At the second round of the 24H Series 2022 (after the 24H Dubai in January), the Canadian team ST Racing ensured the world's first overall victory for a new BMW M4 GT3 (lower gallery left).
With team co-owner Samantha Tan, a woman was part of the winning trio. The Porsche 911 GT3 R of last year's winning team Herberth Motorsport with Daniel Allemann from Solothurn retired early after several incidents.
Three Swiss podium places
The two Swiss Porsches from the Orchid Racing Team finished second in their classes after leading some of the two-part race - 5.5 hours on Saturday afternoon and 6.5 hours on Sunday starting at 9 a.m.: Loic and Frank Villiger with Laurent Misbach and Fabio Spirgi in the GT3 car in the 992-AM class and Alexandre Mottet with Stefan Chaligne, Antoine Leclerc and Antonio Garzon in the 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR in GT4.
The Audi RS3 LMS TCR from Wolf-Power Racing was one of the favorites in the touring cars. However, Jasmin Preisig and her two partners were unable to do anything against the Thai team with a new Cupra Leon Competición, which had already won in Dubai. In the end, the team from Schwyz had to settle for 3rd place (center gallery with Preisig in the green overall on the podium) after a run-out. Defending champion Autorama Motorsport was not at the start for the first time since Dubai 2019.
Only themselves could beat the two BMW M2 CS Racing from Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport (gallery right) in Group TC. Hofor team boss Martin Kroll had to settle for second place in the internal duel.
Overall ranking NLS1 Overall classification 12H Mugello
Photos Nürburgring: Jan Brucke/VLN, Group C
Photos 24H Series: Petr Fryba
