The third round of NLS was again a good one for the many women in the series – with 2 class victories and all of them crossing the finish line: Fabienne Wohlwend, Janine Shoffner, Jasmin Preisig, Michelle Halder, Chantal Prinz, Pippa Mann and Christina Nielsen overcame again the Green Hell.
It was a rough start to the third round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series – or Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie – as the qualifying session was red flagged two times and ultimately shortened. Due to track repair work, the race was delayed by half an hour. As per tradition in the popular endurance series based at the Nordschleife, among the huge field of 165 teams, seven female drivers hit the track on Saturday. The Girls only team – that lines up Carrie Schreiner and Célia Martin – was forced to miss the race due a clash with the Italian GT Championship where Schreiner showed good pace over the whole weekend. The story of the race The #20 car with Klingmann/Jesse Krohn/Alexander Sims/Stef Dusseldorp (BMW M6 GT3) set the fastest lap in qualifying and started the race from pole position. During the formation lap, the #350 Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR of Nagelsdiek/Naumann/Von Danwitz was the first car to hit the wall and hobbled into the pits. The #20 Schubert Motorsport defended their lead ahead of the #30 Frikadelli Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Bamber and Jaminet, who lost two positions but were able to rejoin P2 into the first corner. Both the leading cars were able to pull away from the chasing #99 BMW M6 GT3 of Catsburg / Edwards / Yelloly. #30 Frikadelli with Bamber behind the wheel passed the #20 BMW for the lead. After seven laps, the leading Porsche car pitted with a gap of more than 21 seconds from the #20 car, in a race with not much drama at the front. Bamber and Jaminet won the race, in a Porsche 1-2-3. It was Frikadelli Racing's first victory since the passing of driver and co-founder Sabine Schmitz, to whom the victory was dedicated. The best team with female participation in the overall classify was the #9 GetSpeed Mercedes AMG GT3 of Janine Shoffner and Moritz Kranz, in P20. SP3T Swiss racer Jasmin Preisig and her teammates Frédéric Yerly and Tom Coronel were again on top form and won the SP3T class, as Michelle Halder and her brother Mike Halder finished P3 - just like last race weekend. "We finished the race in 3rd place. A super performance from the whole team. That makes you want more", said Michelle. Jasmin was also understandably happy about her achievement: "Victory at NLS 3!! Good job from the whole team." - she wrote.
SP5+SP6+SP7
Chantal (Kroll) Prinz was another female entry in NLS, with Hofor Racing. She shared the #98 BMW M3 CSL with Alexander Prinz, Martin Kroll and Michael Kroll. They finished the third round of the NLS season P5 in class.
SP9AM
Just like in NLS 2, Janine Shoffner and Moritz Kranz won the SP9AM class: "P1 in class! Another win - very happy - car is dirty but safe!", Janine said.
VT2
This class was a direct battle between two teams, with the better end for Fabienne Wohlwend, Uwe Ebertz and Jacob Erlbacher who finished in P3: "Third in the VT2 Class. Gained a lot of experience, really enjoying the laps around the Nürburgring. Mega job by Adrenalin Motorsport & my teammates Uwe & Jacob - Looking forward to being back." Fabienne said.
Finishing their second race in the series were Pippa Mann and Christina Nielsen, who shared the Team AVIA Sorg Rennsport BMW 330i with Matt Brooks this weekend.
Pippa and Christina - two of the most well-known female racing drivers worldwide and with experience in elite championships, were P10 at the finish line, after a challenging round that saw the trio crossing the finish line after a contact.
"Great team-mates. Great team. Made an uncharacteristic mistake in the race yesterday that resulted in contact with a faster car, but the Sorg Rennsport guys got us back on the race track in record time, and we finished P10/18 in our class on the final result sheet", Pippa said after the weekend.
The next NLS race will be contested on June 26th - obviously at the Green Hell.
But next week, the qualifying race for the 24 hours of Nürburgring will take place at the famous German track, in preparation for the big race on 6th June.