PROsport Racing’s run of bad luck continues in the fifth round of the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series. Marek Böckmann uninjured after fire – Jörg Viebahn hit by a competitor under yellow flag while in the lead.
PROsport Racing took part in the 69th ADAC Westfalenfahrt with four cars, with which the ADAC Nürburgring endurance series started the second half of the season after the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. The team from Wiesemscheid entered three Vantage GT4s in addition to an Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Thick fog forced the organizers to delay the start of the race day. Due to a yellow phase on the last qualifying lap, the GT3 car with starting number #17 only had to start the race from 26th on the grid. But the shock for the PROsport team came at the end of the first lap: Marek Böckmann parked the car in the Hohenrain chicane. A technical defect with flames caused the Vantage GT3 to retire.
Böckmann, who helped to extinguish the car himself, survived the incident unharmed. “I was flown to Neuwied because the doctors at the Medical Center could not rule out an internal burn on my lungs and this had to be checked as quickly as possible,” said Marek Böckmann on the evening of the race.
The race in the SP8T class also ended dramatically for PROsport Racing.After around 100 minutes of racing, Jörg Viebahn was hit hard in the rear by YouTuber Misha Charoudin in the Fuchsröhre while leading under the yellow flag. Viebahn managed to bring the car back into the pit lane, but the vehicle had to be parked there due to the severe damage.
“The YouTuber has to give up his permit for one race because of the incident, but that doesn’t help us at all as we have lost the potential class win.He had already hit the rear of our car once before!Personally, I also think it’s a shame that he didn’t even apologize to us personally for this incident, in my opinion this shows his character,” says PROsport Racing team owner Chris Esser. “In my opinion, this marketing campaign by Bilstein is now a safety issue.Collisions under yellow flags are not acceptable and this driver was aware of the corresponding flag signals from the lap beforehand – a few minutes earlier, this driver had also committed a massive offense under Code 60.
And, if we think back three weeks, a driver colleague of his, who is also known from YouTube, drove through a Code 60 at 145.5 km/h in the 24-hour race – putting the lives of the stewards on the race track at risk!”
Esser continues: “In general, the driving standards in yesterday’s race were very poor, there was another accident under yellow flags and generally there were a lot of very unnecessary incidents over the entire race day.
We urgently need to work on this!Our GT3 retirement is also very bitter, because a strong overall result would also have been possible here with a faultless performance, but the most important thing is that Marek is doing well.”In the GT4 category, the two permit drivers Damon Surzyshyn and Marnix Hommerson were able to collect important laps to obtain the permit.The sister car of Harry Rice and Alexander Hommerson retired after an accident involving Rice in the early stages of the race.
Next outing in the GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club
PROsport Racing will have the chance to lick its wounds next weekend.With two Aston Martin Vantage GT4s, the team will take part in the GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club as part of the 24 Hours of Spa.The two cars will be driven by Hugo Sasse and Raphael Rennhofer as well as Fabio Rauer and Hendrik Still. The two one-hour races on the Ardennes rollercoaster will start at 21:10 on Friday and 12:00 on Saturday. As a special highlight, the Friday race will take place in the dark.