Preview: Nürburgring 24 Hours
Originally Fischer Motorsport planned to enter two Porsche 911 GT3 R, however after several drivers became unavailable, the team had to change plans.
“Planning for this race was a bit different and chaotic this year, compared to previous years. But we’re happy that we’ve managed to put together a good package now.”, said team manager Benjamin Fischer.
Six pilots will share the cockpit in the race. Besides Fischer himself, Manuel Mayer, Paddy Schindler, Kyle and Jason Birnie and Niclas Pedersen will take the steering wheel in the event.
In total, each driver will average a driving time of around four hours in the race.
“Obviously that is a lot less driving time than last year, but this also brings some advantages. We’ll always have someone in the car that is fresh and we can spread around the most difficult drive times during the night, to minimize the mental and physical impact on the drivers.”, explained Mayer.
The legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife will host four different car classes that will compete for positions. Fischer Motorsport will join the fight for overall victory as part of the GT3 class. Additionally the team will face the challenge to fight traffic from the slower classes 911 Cup, GT4 and TCR Touring.
Based on experience, the field spreads out and traffic disperses rather quickly in this event, making traffic situations a rarity in the latter parts of the race.
“Manuel is going to run the start. If we can get through the first couple of hours without issue, then this is worth a lot already. Later on, it’s really just about keeping the car on track and making no mistakes; seeing other cars on track is rather rare then. It actually feels a bit like a time trial.”, explained Kyle Birnie.
Race start is on Saturday at 14:30 CEST / 8:30 am EDT and Fischer Motorsport will have ready an onboard live stream from inside the Porsche race car, on its own YouTube channel.