Class win and top 10 result for AVIA W&S Motorsport at the NLS 6h race

The morning qualifying session already showed how close the Cup 2 class is this season. Just 0.008 seconds behind pole position, the AVIA racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup #120 qualified for second place on the grid in the 13-strong Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring one-make cup. During the turbulent start phase, Scheerbarth managed to take the lead. Despite numerous accidents in the first hour, the team found a perfect pit stop tactic. Both Jahn and Blickle set impressive lap times and were able to extend their lead over the course of the 360 minutes. The jump to the top step of the podium was the well-deserved reward for an excellent race. As the third-best Porsche, the trio finished in ninth place overall.

In the AVIA racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS #960, regular drivers Marius Rauer, Daniel Bohr and Sebastian Vittel shared the work at the wheel. After unfortunate traffic in qualifying, they started the race from the midfield. Early after the start from eighth place, Rauer was able to make up positions and at times was in the top three of the Cup 3 field, which was strongly contested with 17 cars. Bohr and Vittel also made it over the distance without any mistakes or incidents, crossing the finish line in fourth place and the drivers collected further important points in the championship. 

After the Vöhringer Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 had a serious accident at the fourth round, Jürgen Vöhringer and René Höber climbed into the replacement car of W&S Motorsport. The gentleman duo quickly got used to the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS #962 and both drivers held up to the challenge over the six hours to finish the race in tenth place in Cup 3.

Niclas Wiedmann, Kevin Rembert and Dirk Biermann wanted to build on their podium success in the last race. They already showed this ambition in qualifying and were on pole position in the V5 class for production cars with 2500 to 3000 cc displacement until shortly before the end. Ultimately, they started the race from second position. Perfect teamwork and a flawless performance by the driver trio were rewarded accordingly with second place at the finish.

After the two-month summer break, a new season highlight in the NLS is on the calendar for the first time from 9 to 11 September 2022. The 12 Hours of Nürburgring will be held over six hours each on Saturday and Sunday.

Quotes after the race

Daniel Schellhaas, Team Principal W&S Motorsport: "The six hours are done, four cars at the start and all four cars safely at the finish. A sensational win in Cup 2, a second place in V5 and just missing the podium in Cup 3 are a strong result and the reward for the whole team who did an excellent job. We were able to collect important points in Cup 2 and Cup 3, as there are 1.5 times as many in the 6-hour race and a retirement would therefore have been even more painful. The GT3 Cup drivers had super pace and we were able to win by a clear margin. That's very good for the team after missing the podium by a very narrow margin several times in the other championships and the racing luck hasn't quite been on our side this season! I particularly appreciate the performance of Jürgen and René, who went the distance in a car that was new to them. We can be really proud of the team and say thank you to everyone!"

Tim Scheerbarth, Driver #120: "What more can I say than: It was just awesome, really super work from everyone! To start from second place with eight thousandths gap in qualifying shows how close it is in the trophy. Immediately after the start, it was tight and fierce on the track. At times you could put the famous towel over the first four to seven Porsches, that's how close we were together, it was a very intense stint. Daniel and David continued impressively and fought until the end. We are even more pleased about our first class win of the season, which means we can take home one and a half times the number of points. This means that we are moving up the standings. In eight weeks' time we will even race twice over six hours, I am looking forward to that!"

Daniel Bohr, Driver #960: "Our focus was to finish the race and take home as many points as possible. Everyone managed to do that, and we even won the Pro-Am classification. The race went well for us, W&S Motorsport did an excellent job, I think we can be very happy."

René Höber, Driver #962: "Driving such a long and tough race with two drivers was very exhausting. Jürgen held his own, my respect. I had a slight contact due to an oil spill, but fortunately nothing happened, and we otherwise got through well despite the many accidents. We both managed quite fast lap times and we are happy with tenth place in the end."

Niclas Wiedmann, Driver #460: "In qualifying, we were already in first place on the grid when the opponents were able to make up ground at the last minute. A contact in the starting phase threw me back to third place, but I was able to regain second position in the same lap. We were then able to hold on to this second place relatively safely until we crossed the finish line. The team played an important part in this and everything worked perfectly as usual. Maybe we will finally manage a deserved victory next time."