Last weekend, the 24h Nürburgring took place. The Wochenspiegel Team Monschau together with Rinaldi Racing started with one Ferrari 488 GT3. The driver line-up on the Italian racing car: Georg Weiss, Oliver Kainz, Jochen Krumbach, and Christian Menzel.
On Thursday and Friday, the team finished the setup of the Ferrari 488 GT3 during the two qualifying sessions for the Top30 qualifying. On Friday at 19.00 o’clock, Jochen Krumbach started the Top30 qualifying on the 19th position. With a good lap time, he qualified himself on the 11th position for the starting grid on the next day; and that just with a gap of two seconds to the leader.
On Saturday with bright sunshine, Oliver Kainz started the 24h race. After seven laps and on position eight, he came for his first pit stop and handed over the car to Jochen Krumbach. Christian Menzel drove the third stint, before passing over to Georg Weiss. He drove his laps under best track conditions until dusk. During the night, the Ferrari went without any problems and the drivers rotated with their stints.
Just after midnight, just before the next planned pit stop, it began to rain. When Oliver Kainz came into the pits the rain got heavier. So, the team could save one stop and changed immediately to wets. Now, Jochen Krumbach had to struggle through these really difficult conditions. At that time, the Wochenspiegel Team Monschau was on the 13th position. Also, Christian Menzel had problems during the rain. However, his lap times were good and until his next stop, he moved forward to position 12. Until the morning, the rain got heavier and then lighter.
Until Sunday noon, the weather conditions got worse and additionally, the fog came up. Just before noon, Christian Menzel came into the pits and handed over to Oliver Kainz. However, the fog got denser and the visibility so bad, that one lap after the race was suspended with the red flag. So Oliver Kainz got back to the pits on position eleven. Now, we waited for a decision from the race control, if the race will be resumed or not. Under irresponsible conditions and to let the right car win, the race was resumed just before 14.00 o’clock. Now Oliver Kainz had to keep the position and had to try to move forward. Despite very bad visibility, Oliver Kainz had a good restart. After two laps, he overtook the first car and reached the tenth position. At the end, a lot of cars came into the pits for their last stop. The Ferrari 488 GT3 could save this stop and climbed up on the ninth position. Oliver Kainz showed a terrific performance. Not only that he managed the bad weather and track conditions, he also could hold the professional drivers in the car at bay. After 132 laps and 18 stints, the Wochenspiegel Ferrari crossed the finish line as 8thoverall.
Michele Rinaldi: „A fantastic result! Considering that we had two bronze, one silver and one gold driver on the car, the result is so much more remarkable. We could leave behind cars with top drivers and we fight until the end. A great result of all drivers and their performance was good throughout the race. Oliver Kainz was brilliant in the last hour of the race. To show such a performance as a bronze driver during such conditions, just amazing.
A huge thank you to Georg Weiss, without him this project was not realizable.
Also, the Ferrari did not have any technical problem during the whole race. That shows the great performance of the car. With Ferrari Clienti customer racing is brought to a new level. To reach such a position as a private team in the middle of all factory teams, it tells its own tale.
Thanks to the whole team for all the work to be able to reach such a result after a 24 hours race.
Also, thank you to Michelin. Their tires worked absolutely great on the Ferrari and as team, we did not have to worry about it.“
