PROsport Racing misses out on class victory in the SP10 class at the 24h race at the Nürburgring.
PROsport Racing entered three cars in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. For the team from Wiesemscheid, it was the 44th start at the endurance classic in the Eifel, which is why the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 driven by Alexander Mies, Christoph Breuer, Mike David Ortmann and Miklas Born started with a special design.
The car driven by the Swiss Born and his three partners from Germany missed out on class victory after the endurance distance and finished the race in second position in the SP10 category. During the night, the team had to change the oil pump from the differential on the car, which meant losing two laps. “We were able to get one lap back, but the winning BMW was simply too strong,” team owner Christoph Esser summed up after the race. Earlier in qualifying, the car had secured pole position in the class for GT4 cars.
The four Gentleman drivers Guido Dumarey, Alexander Walker, Michael Hess and Yevgen Sokolovskiy also shared a Vantage GT4. On Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m., Sokolovskiy was caught ice cold by the onset of rain in the Wehrseifen and hit the barrier. The end for the car with the starting number #81. At the time of the impact, the car was in a good fifth position in the class.
In addition, PROsport Racing brought an Aston Martin Vantage GT8R to the start in the SP8T class for the Belgians Guillaume Dumarey, Maxime Dumarey, Jean Glorieux and Simon Balcaen. The car was leading the class during the night when, at around 4:00 a.m., the engine stopped working on the Döttinger Höhe. As the team could not find the fault on site, this also meant the car for the vehicle, which, however, also proved its performance.
“Of course you’re disappointed with the result, but when you’ve been doing this for as long as PROsport has, you have to expect it,” Esser continued.
In the Touring Car Legends, 1986 DTM champion Kurt Thiim took to the grid in a Volvo 240 Turbo for PROsport Classic. In the first race, the Dane was able to take a class win and drove the oldest car in the field to eleventh position in the overall standings. In the second race, Thiim retired early with a defective manifold on the turbocharger.
Team boss Chris Esser planned to contest the 24h Classic race together with his Danish friend Kurt Thiim at the wheel of an Opel Kadett, but the duo cancelled the start with a heavy heart. The reason is that the newly installed engine lacks some power and the two drivers would have fallen far short of their own expectations.
