A famous quote by Sir Jackie Steward, his best quote is too long to use as title: “Cornering is like bringing a woman to a climax. Both you and the car must work together. You start to enter the area of excitement at the corner, you set up a pace which is right for the car and after you’ve told it it is coming along with you, you guide it along at a rhythm which has by now become natural. Only after you’ve cleared the corner you can both take pleasure in knowing it’s gone well.” Both of his quotes apply to the Nurburgring GP stecke, known for it’s technical first sector, tricky Dunlop hairpin in the 2nd sector and brutal last sector.
The 8th of February marked the 2nd race in the SSRI GT4 series, at the Nürburgring. Petrolhead heaven located in the beautiful Eifel area, the town of Nürburg in Rheinland-Pfalz to be exact. Every year many races are hosted at the Nürburgring in the various layouts of the circuit. Also the home of manufacturers testing facilities as the Nordschleife aka North Loop is known to be the ultimate proving ground for (sports)cars in general. The SSRI GT4 race took place at the so called “GP Strecke” a 5,148 km long track layout used for the “ADAC GT Masters” and “ADAC GT4 Germany”. If you are ever in the opportunity to visit a race be sure to do so as the atmosphere is amazing.
After every race we try and give you an overview of the qualification and race, in this case we also wanted to show you the reason why SSRI uses our “class system”. As explained in previous articles we do this so drivers can compete at their own level. As some of us only have mortal driving skills and others are the so called aliens. Below you find a comparison between the pole lap of Will Dendy MOB7 of E-sports in his 570s GT4 competing in the pro class and Bas van Melis of MODE11 Racing in his Cayman GT4 competing in the AM class. Below you can see the comparison.
For the record I (Bas) have loads of excuses why i am slower, I’m handicapped thus drive with one arm, have tested positive for corona on the day of the race, have done better laps in practice and… Sh*t what other excuse can is use.
As you can see the difference is not that bad right, only 1.738 difference, on a 5 kilometer 2 minute lap. Ok enough with the excuses. Everyone was excited to see what the second race of the season would bring, will Lewis Dykes be able to extend his lead in the championship with another win? Will Kieran Vidago and Aaron Martin-Pilkington be able to challenge the Mob7 drivers for the top podium spots? And not to forget the AM class, will Dennis Werkman take another win, will Nicolas Melotte find his rhythm and stay out of trouble? Only one way to find out, grab a drink and some crisps and enjoy the qualifying and race commentated by Tim Fullbrook.
Results GT4 Pro Class
1st place – Will Dendy – McLaren 570S GT4 – MOB7 E-sports
2nd place – Lewis Dykes – McLaren 570S GT4 – MOB7 E-sports
3rd place – Kieran Vidago – McLaren 570S GT4 – Simsport Racing International
Results GT4 AM Class
1st place – Bas van Melis – Porsche Cayman GT4 – MODE11 Racing
2nd place – Thomas van Schaik – Audi R8 LMS GT4 – Six10 Motorsports
3rd place – Dennis Verhoeven – Audi R8 LMS GT4
Congratulations to the podium! Some more action shots by our house photographers:
– SSRI The Place To Race
