PROsport Racing finished a strong seventh in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, making the racing team the best-placed Aston Martin team in the race.
The ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring is behind PROsport Racing. The Wiesemscheid-based team fielded three Aston Martins. Christoph Esser’s racing team fielded one Vantage GT3, one GT4, and one exotic GT8R. The team delivered a strong performance in qualifying, missing out on a spot in the top qualifying by just a tenth of a second, putting them on par with the factory-supported top team, Aston Martin.
In the race, Marek Böckmann, Nico Bastian, and Steven Palette delivered a consistent and flawless performance at the wheel of the Vantage GT3. Except for a brake issue on Saturday evening, the #37 car ran smoothly and steadily made its way forward. The car ultimately crossed the finish line in seventh place overall and second in the SP9 Pro-Am classification.
For Aston Martin, this is the first top-10 result at the Nürburgring endurance classic since 2018. It’s also the best overall result to date for PROsport Racing in its current form at the storied race in the Green Hell.
“Before the race, we set the motto that we wanted to avoid unnecessary risks and penalties, and this paid off in the battle of materials! Compliments to the team and drivers for their fantastic performance. This put a great end to our last start with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at the 24-hour race!” said Chris Esser. “We wanted to annoy the factory-supported professional teams in the race, and we accomplished that with flying colors. Unfortunately, even without the brake problem, it wouldn’t have been possible to challenge for the class win, as the Ford was simply too fast, which we hadn’t expected.”
The SP10 class was eliminated on Sunday morning. Michel Albers, Yannik Himmels, Jörg Viebahn, and Benjamin Hites had to retire their Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for safety reasons after four tire failures. All of the damage occurred on the right rear tire. The last one also caused severe damage to the car.
Guido Dumarey, Maxime Dumarey, Marcel Marchewicz, and Raphael Rennhofer competed in the Aston Martin Vantage GT8R. Rennhofer, who was participating in the race for the first time, impressed with his fast lap times. However, the Austrian also retired early after an accident during the night.
“I’m personally disappointed that our GT4 and GT8R didn’t reach the finish line – we had hoped for more here. In the SP10 class, we wanted to fight for the class win, but unfortunately, we repeatedly suffered tire damage due to the damage from a hit, so we decided to retire the car for safety reasons. In the GT8R, Raphael in particular impressed us in his first race with a high-performance car on the Nordschleife; I’m excited to see where his path will lead. I hope we can start more projects together here,” Esser concluded.
