9 May 2022
At the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers, Punch Racing completed a successful test weekend for the endurance classic.
PROsport Racing entered four cars in the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers. The team from Wiesemscheid used the two three-hour races for final preparations for the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring.
In the SP10 class for GT4 cars, the team celebrated a double victory. Mike David Ortmann and Miklas Born were able to win both races in their Aston Martin Vantage GT4. On Saturday, Alexander Mies supported the two youngsters, while on Sunday Christoph Breuer took the wheel of the British car. Alexander Walker and Yevgen Sokolovskiy drove the gentleman’s car in the SP10 class in both races. On Saturday, the two drivers completed the double victory of PROsport Racing. After an impact on Sunday, the driver duo finished fourth in class.
In the SP8T class, the team fielded an Aston Martin Vantage GT8R for the first time. The GT8R is the latest customer sports car from Aston Martin, designed to bridge the gap between the GT3 model and the GT4 car. Maxime and Guillaume Dumarey finished second in class on Saturday. On Sunday, Simon Balcaen supported Maxime Dumarey – the two Belgians again drove to second position.
The team also fielded a Porsche Cayman in the V5 class for Reema Juffali, Emil Heyerdahl and Simon Balcaen. Norwegian Heyerdahl secured pole position for both races. In Saturday’s race, Juffali crashed the car badly after a driving error at the Schwedenkreuz. The driver from Saudi Arabia survived the impact uninjured, but the vehicle was so badly damaged that it could not restart Sunday. “Mistakes like this happen to permit candidates, unfortunately. But it’s important that the drivers learn this way where the limit is on the Nordschleife and what doesn’t work, especially since you can also injure yourself quickly here with the fast GT3 and GT4 cars,” said team boss Christoph Esser.
“In general, I’m satisfied with our test session,” Esser continues. “For us it was the final test before the 24-hour race and that’s how we approached the weekend. The weekend was unfortunately marred on Sunday by the news of the late sports director. This is very tragic and terrible for the family – on behalf of PROsport Racing I would like to offer my sincere condolences.”
The 24-hour race at the Nürburgring will take place from May 26-29. Before that, PROsport Racing will head to Austria, where the ADAC GT4 Germany will be held at the Red Bull Ring the previous week.