10.09.15 Wolfgang Kaufmann wins the 6 hour race on the Nürburgring

Great success for Wolfgang Kaufmann with the Kremer Porsche 997 GT3 KR at the highlight event of the VLN season.

The most prestigious event on the VLN endurance series calendar went under way this past weekend on the Nürburgring, the Opel 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal Rennen. Naturally, Porsche Kremer Racing were in attendance, Wolfgang Kaufmann and team owner Eberhard Baunach sharing driving duties in the Porsche 997 GT3 KR.

In the early morning qualifying session, the Eifel put on its friendliest face - which meant that nobody knew what the weather would be like from on minute to the next. This was just the kind of challenge that Kaufmann as a professional racer relishes; on a drying track, he put together the right lap. A time of 8:45.739 minutes meant not only pole position in the SP-PRO class but also 9th place on the grid. A starting position within the Top 10: “Everything just came together at that moment”, Kaufmann recalls the situation in practice, “not a lot of traffic out on the track, no yellow flags, and a perfect car.”

At the start of the race at noon, tyre choice was critical for the first meters on the Nürburgring. Just as they had done in practice, the team at Porsche Kremer Racing made the right call and put on rain tyres, as the track was still distinctly wet. Which posed no problem for starting driver Kaufmann – even before the field got to the transition onto the Nordschleife, he had snapped up one or two GT3! With the track gradually drying dry up as of the second lap, Kaufmann had to be content with letting some of these faster GT3 cars past again.

More importantly, though, the team controlled the opposition in class with ease. At the early pit stop, the team swapped the rain tyres for slicks, and Kaufmann went back out for his second stint. “The start was a lot of fun. Our Kremer Porsche handled perfectly, I would have liked it to stay wet for a little longer”. Kaufmann sums up the first part of his drive. Around the half-way mark, the man from the Westerwald vacated the driver's seat for his team mate Eberhard Baunach until he once again took over the immaculately prepared Kremer Porsche for two more long stints. Without any problem, Kaufmann turned lap after lap around the legendary Nürburgring without leaving the shadow of a doubt as to who would win the SP-PRO class on this day. They had to wait for the crown jewel event in the VLN calendar, but now Porsche Kremer Racing achieved a VLN class win: “Today, we didn't profit from anyone else's misfortune, we were able to turn more consistant, error-free laps than our opponents, on merit”, Kaufmann enthused about the class victory which was the second of the VLN season for himself, and his fourth podium position this year.

Following a single weekend off work, the next race is on the agenda, and this time it will be another visit to the Ardennes, at Spa-Francorchamps for the Spa SIX Hours, an endurance race for Historic cars. His car for the event is something special as well: Together with Afschin Fatemi, the man from Molsberg will drive a Ford GT40, one of the 1960s' most successful sportscars with no less than four Le Mans wins to its name.