Snow chaos inhibits the second VLN Race
14.04.2019
After the good start into the new season the Frikadelli Racing Team wanted to continue with good results. But due to snowfall the race had to be stopped in the second lap. One victim of this freak weather was the #30 Porsche 911 GT3 R of the team from Barweiler. Sabine Schmitz, who drove the car at the start, could luckily get away from the accident, near “Mutkurve", with nearly no injuries.
“The most important thing is, that Sabine is ok despite some bruises. The sudden change in the weather right after the start made it impossible to race today. The race direction made the right decision even though it came a bit too late for our #30 Porsche 911 GT3 R. The damage in the front of the car luckily looks worse than it really is”, says team manager Klaus Abbelen.
The morning qualifying also took place during temperatures which were near the freezing point. The only difference was that it was dry in the morning. Here the Frikadelli Racing Team faced other challenges like a high amount of traffic and yellow-phases. In the end Felipe Fernandez Laser, Klaus Abbelen, Alex Müller and Sabine Schmitz qualified on the 16th position. The second Frikadelli Racing car, the #962 Porsche Cayman GT4 driven by Hendrik von Danwitz and “Jules", reserved P7 in the highly competitive Cup-3 class after qualifying. So the car was the best placed Cayman of the 981-series in it’s class.
Just in time for the racestart, it began to snow at some areas of the track. But it didn’t stop and became worse and worse. While the GT4-car survived those conditions, the race of the #30 Porsche 911 GT3 R was over near “Mutkurve". Just a few minutes after this accident the VLN-race was stopped and as the weather situation didn’t seem to improve the race didn’t start again.
Voices regarding the weekend:
Sabine Schmitz (#30 Porsche 911): “As the snowfall increased in lap two, I reduced the speed. Despite that I sadly lost the car near “Mutkurve" and hit the barrier with about 80 to 90 km/h. I tried to save the car, but the Nordschleife didn't have mercy on me. I have to thank the track marshals, the ambulance team and the employees in the hospital. Except for some bruises I’m fine.”
Klaus Abbelen (#30 Porsche 911): “The day was surely sobering. Sadly it already began in the practice. Despite the car was very good, we didn’t achieve to get a free lap. So we couldn’t show the true capability of our car. We really have to improve this for the next race.”
Felipe Fernandez Laser (#30 Porsche 911): “It was planned, that I will do one fast lap at the end of the Qualifying. Sadly a code-60 around “Aremberg" impeded the chase for a good laptime. That’s a putty, as the car surely was capable of driving a time enough for the top-5.”
Alex Müller (#30 Porsche 911): “It was extremely hard to get a free lap in Qualifying. It feels like playing roulette if there are nearly 200 cars out on track. In addition to that there were many code-60- and double-yellow-phases. We have to hope for more luck in the next race.”
Hendrik von Danwitz (#962 Porsche GT4): “As there was a code-60 in my qualifying-lap the whole session wasn’t good. Anyway we still were the fastest 981-Cayman in the Cup-3 class. Then the race start was pretty good until the snowfall became worse and worse. Due to the high amount of accidents I already thought, that the race will be stopped. So I reduced my pace to somehow survive.”
