10 Oct 2022
At the seventh NLS event, GDM and PROsport Racing took its first GT3 class win in the racing series.
With the 54th ZEWOTHERM ADAC Barbarossapreis the hot final phase of the Nürburgring Endurance Series has begun. GDM and PROsport Racing contested the third-last race of the season with three cars: one each of an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and GT4 and a Porsche Cayman as a “permit driving school car”.
Christoph Breuer and Nico Verdonck took turns at the wheel of the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the race, which was characterized by changing weather conditions and tire poker. In the four-hour race, the two veterans Christoph Breuer and Nico Verdonck drove the best result of the team from Wiesemscheid with the British GT3 sports car. The two drivers won the SP9 Pro-Am class and, after penalties against competitors, finished the race in fifth place overall.
“I am very pleased with the development of our GT3 this season on the Nordschleife,” said team principal Christoph Esser. “We have put down a steep development curve and if we continue like this, we will scratch the 8-minute sound barrier, which is our benchmark. In addition, we also still have room for improvement as a team, we still make minor individual mistakes, which we still have to eliminate. But all in all, I’m very happy with the development of the project: the car is extremely reliable and I expect that we will permanently run two Aston Martin Vantage GT3s in the NLS in 2023.”
At the wheel of the Aston Martin Vantage GT4, regular driver Guido Dumarey alternated with Alexander Hommerson, who took his seat at the wheel of a GT4 car for the first time. Hommerson put in a strong performance for his debut in the Vantage, posting an 8:54 as the fastest lap time, a strong showing for a debutant, as Christoph Esser told his drivers after the race. The duo finished the race in third place in the SP10 class.
Niek Hommerson, Gabriela Jilkova and Hugo Sasse had an instructive race at the wheel of the Porsche Cayman in the V5 class. “The three showed good speed, but caught penalties due to mistakes, which prevented a good result. But this is part of the learning process on the Nordschleife,” Esser concluded.