Closest finish ever in NLS with Laurens Vanthoor Sunday’s winner for Grello-Manthey-Porsche + RESULT

It was on a Sunday Laurens Vanthoor who won the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R race, with a slim lead of 0.042 seconds over Jordan Pepper in Red Bull ABT Team’s Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo II. It was the ‘closest finish’ ever in the 48-year history of the NLS.

Already in the early stages of the race it was a demonstration of GT3 perfection in Groene Hel. The key players who performed their roles with flying colors at the end of the race were involved in the fight from the beginning. In addition, two Mercedes-AMG GT3s from HRT and two Falken Porsches fought for every centimeter. The six rushed through the Green Hell, separated by mere seconds. This lasted until the first pit stop. After that, the leading group broke up a bit due to different strategies. Later in the race it became a battle between Joel Eriksson in the Falken Porsche and the Grello Vanthoor driver, both flying around the circuit in their battle for overall victory. The battle excited the crowd as every inch was fought for after the last pit stop, Abt Lamborghini took the lead while the team took advantage of the 60th lap finish, where Manthey and Falken-Porsche had previously finished. at a reduced speed. Pilipili (Lamborghini) went into the final lap with a lead of eight seconds over second-placed Vanthoor (Manthey-Porsche). “We couldn’t close that gap on the line,” Vanthoor’s team-mate Kévin Estre admitted afterwards, although Vanthoor set the fastest lap on the final lap with a time of 7:56.473. Despite this, it ended up being the end of the race as Pilipili did not have enough fuel for another lap and drove anti-clockwise to avoid completing another lap.

After four hours of racing, the Brit was flagged 1.810 seconds over the official race time. Rival Vanthoor managed to be 0.042 seconds faster than Pilipili. During the acceleration, the front of the Grello Porsche moved a few meters in front of the Lamborghini. “I tried everything to put Laurens behind me until the end, but unfortunately I couldn’t,” Pepper said later, to which his teammate Kelvin van der Linde added, somehow confused: “I have no words for it. This is so. painful!”

The previous day’s winner, Joel Eriksson, completed the podium in third place, with Tim Heinemann in the Falken Porsche at his side. Daniel Juncadella and Frank Bird finished fourth in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Team Mercedes-AMG HRT. Thomas Mutsch, Franck Mailleux and Lance David Arnold finished fifth in their Glickenhaus SCG9004c. Hubert Haupt, Dennis Fetzer and Ralf Aron took victory in the SP9 Pro-Am class in their ADVAN x HRT Team Mercedes-AMG GT3. In the debut of the new Renazzo Motorsport team, Kiki Sak Nana, Christoph Breuer and ‘Dieter Schmidtmann’ took their first class victory in the Am category.

There was another one too Dutch success reporting. Beitske Visser Along with female teammates Pippa Mann, Carrie Schreiner and Fabienne Wohlwend, she finished second in the SP8T class in two NLS races with their BMW M4 GT4 from GiTi Tire Motorsport by WS Racing. On Sunday this ranking meant an unqualified 21st place overall.

Beitske Visser, along with her female teammates Pippa Mann, Carrie Schreiner and Fabienne Wohlwend, finished second in the SP8T class in each of the two NLS races with their #146 BMW M4 GT4 from GiTi Tire Motorsport by WS Racing.

Results ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS) Race 2 Sunday April 7, 2024:

1. Porsche 911 GT3 R
B:Manthey EMA 38065
Laurens Vanthoor/Kevin Estre

2. 27 SP9 Pro Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo II
B: RED BULL TEAM ABT
Kelvin vVan Der Linde/Jordan Pepper

3. 4 SP9 Pro Porsche 911 GT3
B: Falcon Motorsports
Joel Eriksson/Tim Heinemann

Click here for full results of the ADAC Reinoldus Long Race on Sunday April 7, 2024, part of the Nürburgring Long Strecken Series (NLS)

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