Falken Motorsports starts this year’s Nürburgring Endurance Series season with a good result. Nico Menzel and Martin Ragginger crossed the finish line with their Porsche 911 GT3 R in ninth position overall. The sister car, driven by Joel Eriksson and Sven Müller, just missed out on the Top 10 with twelfth place overall. Nevertheless, the team is satisfied with the season opener. The target of gaining further experience and fine-tuning the Porsche 911 GT3 R was successfully achieved.
Already in qualifying, which took place on a drying track and presented the drivers with special challenges, the Falken drivers put in a good performance. The two Porsche 911 GT3 R cars worked very well on the damp and partly wet Nordschleife asphalt. Nevertheless, the drivers took no risks and secured a grid position in the top 20. The focus at the season opener was on collecting important data, especially since Falken Motorsports is competing with the brand new 992 Porsche 911 GT3 this season.
The four-hour race, which started punctually at 12 noon on Saturday, proceeded without any special incidents. The four Falken drivers used the season opener not only to familiarize themselves with the new Porsche 911 GT3 R, but also to put the further developed Falken tires to the test. It quickly became apparent that the combination of team, driver and tires is competitive. This is also of great importance in view of the preparation for the legendary 24h race in May.
While Joel Eriksson and Sven Müller finished the four-hour race in twelfth place, Falken newcomer Nico Menzel and Martin Ragginger were delighted with ninth overall.
The next race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series, the NIMEX 47th DMV 4-Hour Race, will take place on April 1, 2023.
