15.08.12 Porsche Kremer victorious in the second highlight event of the Nordschleife season

Following their win in the Nürburgring 24h Wolfgang Kaufmann and Porsche Kremer Racing were also victorious in the 6 hour race on the Nordschleife.

Eberhard Baunach & Wolfgang Kaufmann

Porsche Kremer 997 KR

Porsche Kremer 997 KR

In the days after the previous round of the VLN endurance championship, the lights rarely ever went out in the Porsche team's home base in Cologne. A technical problem with a fiery aftermath had severely damaged the Porsche 997 GT3 KR. "The whole team has shouldered an unbelievable workload since the last race. Along with the rebuild of the VLN Porsche, the Youngtimer cars and the cars for the Oldtimer Grand Prix are also being readied", says Wolfgang Kaufmann about the strain the Porsche Kremer crew had to cope with before the 6hr race. Wolfgang Kaufmann/ Dieter Schornstein/ Florian Fricke started this longest round of the VLN endurance championship from 21st place on the grid. Kaufmann: "We were as high up as P15 at one point, but toward the end of practice did not try for a fast lap anymore." A superb start saw Kaufmann take the lead in the SP7 class already on the Grand Prix track, and put himself in position directly behind the faster GT3 cars, matching their pace in the initial stages of the race. Dieter Schornstein took over at the controls of the Porsche for the middle stint, then handed the car back to Kaufmann: "An on-track misunderstanding led to contact with another Porsche, which resulted in a slightly bent rear track rod. So from then on, we had to deal with a less than perfectly handling car for the rest of the race." As Kaufmann took over for the final stint of the race, the team was less than a minute behind the leading Porsche in the competitive SP7 class. Until the last lap, Kaufmann was able to turn this deficit into a slim lead. Everyone expected the two leaders to pit once more before this last lap, for a necessary fuel stop. Kaufmann and Porsche Kremer Racing did their math, skipped this stop, and were already heading toward the Nordschleife as their opponent made his pit call. "Of course we then did not use maximum revs, short-shifted, and were significantly slower over this last lap. But this time, we had the little bit of lack we've been missing on some occasions in the past." In the end, the Kremer Racing Porsche had won its SP7 class by over three minutes, turned the fastest lap and got as high up as an excellent 9th place in the overall standings.

This coming weekend, Team Porsche Kremer Racing and Wolfgang Kaufmann will be competing in the 40ht AvD Oldtimer-Grand-Prix.