No luck for Manthey and EMA Motorsport at NLS 8

Meuspath. The two Porsche 911 GT3 R cars entered were unable to finish the eighth round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series. The Manthey Porsche with the starting number 911 driven by Jaxon Evans and Thomas Preining crashed on the first race lap and was parked in the pits after two and a half hours due to consequential damage. The nine-eleven (74) entered jointly with EMA Motorsport was unable to finish the race due to an accident in the last hour of the race, driver Dennis Olsen is doing well. He shared the cockpit with Matteo Cairoli.

The challenging track conditions played an important role, as so often at races on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Due to the rain on the previous day, qualifying on Saturday morning started in wet, sometimes very slippery track conditions. In the course of the session, a dry line slowly formed. Dennis Olsen lapped the 24.358-kilometre combination of the Nordschleife and the Grand Prix short circuit in 8:54.449 minutes, placing the number 74 car in second place on the grid. Thomas Preining finished the practice with a time of 9:01.555 minutes in eighth position with the number 911.

The PAGID Racing 46th DMV Münsterlandpokal started on time at 12:00 for all 96 participants in partly still damp but drying track conditions. Both nine-eleven cars started the four-hour race on slicks. Thomas Preining started in the yellow-green Porsche 911 GT3 R and went off the track in the Kesselchen area. The grass and leaves collected by the car caused the engine temperature to rise, so he had to pit to have this removed. After a short stop, he returned to the track in 24th position, but after a good hour the car had to pit again due to consequential damage and was parked after twelve laps.

Dennis Olsen initially lost a few places in the starting phase but fought his way up to third position with Matteo Cairoli in the course of the race and the number 74 Porsche 911 GT3 R was able to keep up with the pace of the leading groups. Half an hour before the end of the race, however, Olsen went off the track, crashed and was unable to continue his drive. He was taken to the medical centre for a routine check and was allowed to leave after a short time.

Nicolas Raeder, Managing Director Manthey-Racing GmbH:
"We were happy to return to the Nordschleife once again after this long time and the unfortunate 24-hour race. And together with EMA Motorsport, we had a nice line-up. We did well in practice and the drivers coped well with the difficult conditions. The retirement of both cars was of course bitter for us - after Thomas' slip we tried to let the 911 finish the race. Unfortunately, this was not possible due to the engine overheating. Dennis and Matteo were well into the race and were able to keep up with the pace of the front runners until Dennis' accident. But these things happen on the Nordschleife, the most important thing is that Dennis is okay!"

Thomas Preining, Porsche 911 GT3 R No. 911:
"Of course I'm not happy with the result. It was difficult for the team in general today. Sometimes you need a bit of luck on the Nordschleife, and we certainly didn't have that today. Nevertheless, you always have to look ahead, analyse the mistakes and learn from them. For me, it was a unique experience to drive in the Grello. This has been my dream since I joined Porsche at the end of 2016 and I really appreciate the opportunity and am very grateful for it. I hope I have another chance to do this better in the future."

Dennis Olsen, Porsche 911 GT3 R No. 74:
"We got off to a very good start in the first race for EMA Motorsport on the Nordschleife - with P2 in practice and even the first lead kilometres in the race. The track conditions were challenging, so we drove as safely as possible from the start. But then I made a small mistake, which you simply can't afford here. I'm incredibly sorry for EMA Motorsport, Manthey, Porsche and Matteo, because this is not how I wanted to end the season. But the team proved to be a real contender in only its second European race against a strong grid."