Nürburgring. With a total of nine cars MK-Motorsport partner PIXUM Team Adrenalin Motorsport tackled this year's ADAC Zurich 24h race. The team from Heusenstamm managed the feat of bringing all cars to the finish line successfully in the world's toughest endurance race. The weekend was also crowned with victory in the V5 production car class and further podium places in the BMW M235i Racing Cup, the V4, V6 and SP8T classes.

"First of all, I would like to thank my entire team. All team members have once again done sensational work that cannot be praised enough. Bringing nine vehicles to the start of the world's toughest race is a mammoth task, but thanks to our team spirit we have mastered it perfectly. I am very happy that we were again able to reward ourselves with a great team result and brought all cars to the finish line successfully. The fact that we had so few problems despite the many vehicles and the changeable conditions is almost uncanny," explained team boss Matthias Unger after the race visibly satisfied.

In the end, the class victory in the V5 production car class was a particular joy. Christian Büllesbach, Andreas Schettler, Carlos Arimon and Ioannis Smyrlis gave a perfect performance with the NEXEN Porsche Cayman and after 111 laps had a lead of just over ten minutes over the competition. "We started into the race from second place and were able to take the lead directly. The car was simply fantastically prepared by the team, which is why we were also able to drive out a large cushion. We were able to successfully defend our lead right to the finish," says Smyrlis. Even an incident on a rain-wet track on Sunday morning could not stop the drivers' quartet. "Unfortunately, we had a small problem with the ESP and were easily struck with our Porsche on rain-wet roadway exit Fuchsröhre. Fortunately we were able to continue the journey and bring home the victory," Smyrlis continued.

The great result in the production car class V5 was completed by Urs Zünd, Christian Teichert, Daniel Attallah and Carsten Palluth, who secured third place on the podium with the PIXUM Porsche Cayman. "The four drivers were already very strong at the qualification race and were able to prove their performance again at the 24h race. I am very happy that in the end they were able to reward themselves with third place for their great performance," said Unger.

The two new vehicles of the PIXUM Team Adrenalin Motorsport also mastered their first 24-hour endurance test in the Green Hell with flying colours. Gang Gu Xiao (China), Fei Li (China), Erki Koldits (Estonia) and Einar Thorsen (Norway) took third place in the SP8T class with the Mainhattan-Wheels/Firedrake BMW M4 GT4. For their team mates Gustav Engjähringer (Austria), Stefan Fuhrmann (Austria), Michael Hollerweger (Austria) and Luca Veronelli (Switzerland), the new Veedol Porsche Cayman S took second place in the V6 class. Thus, both vehicles successfully proved their stability at their 24h debut.

Für einen weiteren Erfolg beim diesjährigen 24h Rennen sorgten Daniel Zils, Norbert Fischer, Christian Konnerth und VLN-Tabellenführer David Griessner (Österreich). Das Fahrerquartett fuhr mit dem PIXUM BMW M235i Racing auf den dritten Platz. „Wir haben in der Anfangsphase des Rennens leider ein paar Positionen verloren, konnten uns in der Nacht aber wieder erfolgreich vorkämpfen. Zwischenzeitlich waren wir auf dem zweiten Platz in unserer Klasse unterwegs, haben im Regen allerdings wieder ein wenig Zeit eingebüßt. Trotzdem freue ich mich sehr über den Podestplatz“, so Konnerth. „Gerade am Sonntag waren die Streckenbedingungen extrem hart. Der immer stärker werdende Regen und der dichte Nebel haben uns vor eine große Herausforderung gestellt. Daher freut es mich sehr, dass wir den Bedingungen trotzen und uns den dritten Platz sichern konnten“, fügte Griessner hinzu.

Das Schwesterfahrzeug, der MOTEC Wheels BMW M235i Racing von Christopher Rink, Danny Brink, Philipp Leisen und VLN-Tabellenführer Yannick Fübrich sah die Zielflagge auf dem vierten Rang. „Eine Zielankunft beim 24 Stunden Rennen ist immer etwas ganz Besonderes. Trotzdem wäre für uns in diesem Rennen weitaus mehr möglich gewesen. Wir hatten die Klassenführung inne, leider hat sich jedoch zwischenzeitlich die Antriebswelle gelöst. Der zusätzliche Boxenstopp hat uns dann viel Zeit gekostet. Schade, aber im nächsten Jahr greifen wir wieder das Podium an“, so Rink.

Die weiteren BMW M235i Racing Fahrzeuge aus dem Hause des PIXUM Team Adrenalin Motorsport belegten die Ränge fünf und neun. Hier wechselten sich Ralph-Peter Rink, Stefan Kruse, Alessandro Cremascoli (Italien) und Christian Müller sowie Thomas Henriksson (Schweden), Marco van Ramshorst (Niederlande), Charles Oakes (England) und Michael Klotz am Lenkrad ab.

Abgerundet wurde das gute Teamergebnis bei der 46. Auflage des ADAC Zurich 24h Rennen von Philipp Stahlschmidt, John Lee Schambony, Uwe Legermann und Guido Heinrich. Das Fahrerquartett sicherte sich mit dem MOTEC Wheels BMW 325i E90 den dritten Platz in der Klasse V4.

Text: Media-DaCo (Daniel Cornesse) / Photos: Adrenalin-Motorsport, Marc Krankenberg

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