24H Rennen Nürburgring - Qualifying Race 2018

What a Race! The 6 Hours qualifying Race in preparation of the 24 Hours had it all. About 60% of the usual VLN Grid was present and thus opened up the Track for the big bangers to fight it out with less overtaking Manoeuvres. In the end the traffic still held back the ROWE BMW and prevented Nick Catsburg to have a shot to overtake Yelmer Buurman on the last Lap.
In the first hours the whole field of GT3 kept pretty tight together and all manufacturers were close by, it almost seemed the drivers weren’t allowed to push really hard for it. The only Car that was visibly suffering from too much BOP restrictions was the Walkenhorst BMW Z4. The real Hero of the mixed conditions in this mornings qualifying Session it had placed 4th overall and fastest BMW. But that is why you have ex-F1 Test Driver Jörg Müller on there, his experience on this Track is unbelievable.
I hope the new technical advisor from the US, Scott Raymond will give the Walkenhorst Z4 some more airflow for the 24 Hours so it can compete on par when Jörg is driving it.
Another exotic car , well not for long time Norschleife-Fans, the Glickenhaus SCG003 was back and fit right in with the “off the shelf” GT3 runners. Always with the leading pack and even after the whole field spread out more it was among that elusive top 6. Great Job to the Italian crew, you really have to appreciate this small enterprise and the level of professionalism they show. But I’d say the BOP towards the GT3’s is spot on.
While the Ferraris around my printing colleague Georg Weiss were the only cars that were downgraded by the BOP prior to the Race I must say that they seem to push just like the SCG and the Z4.. but once the manufacturers Car open up the full potential ( sandbagging much ? ) the Top places are out of reach.
I still would love to see Jeroen Bleekemolen do a BOP run with all cars and then seal all of them .. Why Jeroen ? Because he is the only guy that won a Race on almost all of them and could handle them.
Yes we talk about BOP and sandbagging a lot as this whole event is a major testrun for the Real Deal .. the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring. The event on May 12th is closing in and everybody wants to see a level playing field. I trust Mister Raymond to sort everybody out and hopefully we will have a close finish between 2,3 or more Cars in the End. But please no 3 Cars of the same Manufacturers on the Podium.
The 6 Hours were such a success, the Race was tight, the fights were Fair, we had all the Manufacturers close. The Weather was just gorgeous and the Vibe in the whole Paddock was positive. From the Media Center to every Marshal on Track, everybody was smiling.
Most of all the Black Falcon Team of course as they had 2 Cars competing in the Front with the Yellow Striped #5 having the top Step of the Podium. Very well done and thanks to ROWE for making the last Laps a nailbiting finish.
See you all in 4 weeks for the ADAC 24 H Rennen in the Green Hell