Green Hell Part 3: Race Report

Continuing the story from my previous post, an account of NLS 1 from my perspective:

At an NLS race, qualifying finishes at 10am on Saturday. Afterwards each of the teams met with themselves to discuss final changes and strategy for the race. While this was happening, the mountain rain decided to make an appearance. This presented a difficult strategy dilemma for all of the teams. Due to the nature of the weather in Eifel mountains, teams have no idea what the conditions are outside of the areas close to the pits and “Grand Prix” Circuit, turning their strategy into a guessing game. If the track is dry for most of the Nordschleife, then it would be ideal to start on dry tires, as there is much more time to lose on the Nordschleife, and comparatively little to lose on the wet track near the pits. If it is either the same/more wet along the Nordschleife, then putting on dry tires would be akin to forfeiting any chance to finish in a good position.

With the green flag dropping at 12:00, teams locked in their final strategies and prepared themselves for a 4-hour dogfight on the most dangerous track in the world. Even on the more predicable “Grand Prix Circuit” (which was designed to host cars that would be unsafe to race on the Nordschleife) the track took no prisoners. With the #911 spinning on within the first 10 turns, both the #3 and #4 Falken Motorsports cars finding themselves on the wrong tire, the race start was absolute chaos. Both the #3 and #4 cars dove into the pits, bolting on new tires, requiring them to make up an additional several minutes in order to have a chance at a podium. The #911 Manthey Racing crew found themselves on the correct tire, despite spinning on lap 1, and were able to immediately apply pressure to make up for their qualifying struggles. Having started 13^th, within the first 30 minutes they had clawed their way up to            4^th position. Unfortunately for Ford Performance, they did not have nearly as successful of a race start. The remaining #6 Mustang GT3 encountered the same struggles from the morning. As a result, they were unable to contend even for the top 15 positions, falling behind the some Pro-Am and Amateur SP9 crews. As it was a 4 hour race, I had the time available to follow the race from a myriad of different locations on the track. I was able to watch the race from the start-finish straight, Hatzenbach, the Veedol-Schikane, Flugplatz, Schewedenkruez, and Metzgesfeld corners. Because the track is so long, without listening to radio coverage, it’s impossible to follow the race status. Regardless, watching the cars go by while in the middle of the woods has a certain ambiance to it that isn’t found on any other track in the world. Despite being mostly corners, even the comparatively short straights, such as the Quiddelbacher Höhe, because you are able to be so comparatively close to the track (as compared to how close you can get at tracks like Laguna Seca, or the Long Beach Street Circuit) your able to really feel just how fast even the lower class cars are.

Skipping forward to the last 30-40 minutes of the race, all eyes were on the #3 and #4 Falken Motorsport cars, as they had completed their charge up the field, with Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci and German native Nico Menzel in the #4, and Dutchman Morris Schuring alongside German native Sven Müller in the #3. Running in 1^st and 2^nd position, Falken Motorsports was a single pit-stop away from wining the NLS season opener, with all the final drama coming down to if the #911, who didn’t need to stop, would get luck with safety zones and be able to catch them. This ended up not being the case, with the final podium being #3, #4, and #911 in that order.

From a spectator perspective, the race was intensely thrilling, with the lead and order swapping around throughout all 4 hours, although as a spectator, you are only able to see a small portion of the action in person.

Kirk N