24.05.12 Long-awaited victory for Wolfgang Kaufmann and Porsche Kremer Racing at the season's highlight event

Good prepration in the endurance championship, with three podium places, paid off for the established team from Cologne at the season's blue riband event.

Wolfgang Kaufmann & Kremer Porsche 997 KR

Flying Piranha

In the 40th edition of the 24h race on the Nürburgring, Wolfgang Kaufmann was able to secure victory in the SP7 class, and an excellent 13th place overall in the Kremer Porsche. Against the more than thirty factory entered or factory supported GT3 entries, the professional racer from the Westerwald got his car into the qualifying session of the fourty fastest entrants, where he secured the 34th starting position and a coveted "blue light" for one of the fourty fastest cars on the track. "In a 24 hour race, grid position is not actually a deciding factor, but being lined up directly behind the GT3 cars is a great success for us especially since we had been running the car in its race setup throughout all practice and qualifying sessions."

There were worried faces in the team garage after the Top 40 qualifying when the crew found a mechanical malfunction on the Porsche's gearbox. "The boys worked all night to again give us a gearbox that could last the 24 hours. The 'box was fitted in the car on Sunday morning, right before the race", Kaufmann recalls the mechanics' fine performance.

At this point, the race was already over for the team's second Porsche, the number 250 car. An accident in night practice left the car damaged beyond repair. this was especially disappointing for team owner Eberhard Baunach who was entered on this car and wanted to compete in the 4 hours as a driver.

With his team mates Dieter Schornstein, Altfrid Heger, and Michael Küke, Wolfgang Kaufmann steadily worked his way to the front of the standings: "We were a very evenly matched crew of drivers, the Yokohama tyres went the distance without any trouble, and the Porsche 997 KR prepared by Porsche Kremer Racing ran like clockwork." During the night, Kaufmann drove one of his seven stints as rain set in: "The conditions were quite tricky as the track from Hatzenbach all the way through Aremberg got very slippery."

Kaufmann then had the pleasure of bringing the Kremer Racing Porsche across the finish line on Sunday afternoon with a final double stint: "Taking the chequered flag in a position like this is always a very emotional moment. My thanks must go to the entire crew of Kremer Racing, each and every one of them did a phantastic job, and we have more than achieved our goal of finishing the race within the top 20 places."

At the end of the 24 hours, Eberhard Baunach's team was the third highest Porsche finisher at the world's biggest motorsports event, on the world's toughest race track. This was only Kremer Racing's second participation following their premiere at the 'Ring in 2011.

Over the following weeks, Wolfgang Kaufmann will be busy racing in historic motorsports. Next weekend, a start in the CER – Classic Endurance Racing - series with a Porsche 911 RSR is on the agenda, and the week after this will see the return to the Nürburgring with a Ford Escort RS1600. At the Eifelrennen, the „Porsche Kremer Racing Night of Legends", an event in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Kremer Racing's foundation, will see the gathering of more than sixty cars from the company's history.