Niederhauser: "I was absolutely at the limit".

At first, Patric Niederhauser was overwhelmed by disappointment at the oh-so-close defeat in the battle for victory at the 24 Hours of Spa. In the meantime, however, it has given way to pure joy over the best race of his long career so far.

The vehicle concept alone tipped the scales in the end. Nick Tandy was able to fully exploit the traction advantages of the rear-engined Porsche 911 GT3 R over the mid-engined Audi R8 LMS in the rain.

Happy and proud also about 2nd place
In this way, he led Rowe Racing to triumph over Team Attempto Racing, which had never before appeared in a major endurance race. Both were manned by three factory drivers each and enjoyed full factory support.

Patric Niederhauser: "It's an incredible result. I'm incredibly happy and proud of it. I don't think I've ever driven as well as I did in the last 40 minutes of the race."

Walking a tightrope in the final phase
Anyone who had followed the final phase can understand this self-assessment. The Briton swam his way to first position in a short time. But after he had replaced the powerless Swiss at the top, the latter stayed on until the finish.

Patric Niederhauser: "I gave everything and was absolutely at the limit. I wanted this victory, but that was all I could do. I was close to flying off the track several times. So Nick and I quickly built up a 35-second lead over the chasers. But the Porsche simply had a slight advantage in the rain."

Handicap in the rain
The former GP3 winning driver's performance at Jenzer Motorsport is all the more impressive given that he was battling a handicap that was not visible from the outside.

Patric Niederhauser: "We had a problem with the steering wheel that we only noticed in this final phase. It already occurred during the night when Vervisch once failed to operate the pit limiter (button for limiting speed in the pit lane, red.) and we therefore received a drive-through penalty for speeding. I then drove the last two hours with virtually no traction control, and the ABS couldn't be adjusted either because of the error in the steering wheel - and that in the rain."

Spa tougher than Nürburgring
Having contested two 24-hour races within four weeks under similar weather conditions and competitors, "Nidi" can draw a good direct comparison. The Nürburgring-Nordschleife may be the most difficult race track in the world, but the race at the Circuit de Spa-Franchorchamps has a different dimension.

Patric Niederhauser: "Spa is tougher. At the Nürburgring, you're a bit more considerate in traffic. And because you're not allowed to make any mistakes, you drive 99.9 percent there. At Spa, you give more than 100 percent because you drive for 24 hours like in a qualifying session. If you don't do that in the best-studded GT3 race in the world, you don't stand a chance."

Focus on title fight in Germany
As sustainable as this personal success is for him now - his concentration is now fully on the next season's goal. The next two weekends will decide the 2020 ADAC GT Masters, which the recently 29-year-old from Münsingen leads with his South African partner Kelvin van der Linde.

The lead of the defending champions in the Rutronik Racing Audi in the standings is minimal. The point totals of the top 4 in the overall standings (129, 128, 123 and 109 points) suggest a lot of drama in the title fight with four rounds still to come.

So first at the Lausitzring and then at the finale in Oschersleben, every position will matter. However, the Bernese has a less good feeling about the coming weekend than he did about the last one.

Patric Niederhauser: "Already at the first event on the shorter track variant at Lausitz we didn't shine. Now it's going to be even more difficult because of the classification of our Audi. Oschersleben is more to our liking. So, it will be important to stay within striking distance and score as many points as possible. In any case, I don't want to settle for second place like at Spa."

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