Ongoing preparations for Falken’s Nürburgring 24 Hours will see the tyre manufacturer draft in five-time winner Timo Bernhard to test the team’s new-for-2019 Porsche 991.2 this Friday.
With all of Falken’s rosta of Porsche drivers racing at clashing events this weekend, including Carrera Cup Asia, Blancpain GT Series, Intercontinental GT Series and European Le Mans Series, Falken originally planned to only race its sister BMW M6 in VLN2. But the chance to get feedback from Bernhard, who set a lap time of the Nordschleife of 5:19.546 in the 919 Evo last year, means the Schnabl-run team will roll out the Porsche for testing on Friday.
“We always planned to race the BMW this weekend but the opportunity came up to get Timo in the car to work through the preparations we need to do before the N24,” says Stefanie Olbertz, Falken’s motorsport co-ordinator. “With revised suspension, different tyre sizes and aero package, the 2019 911 differs considerably from the GT3R we have been running. Getting more experience of running the new car, plus the chance to have Timo’s feedback was a worthwhile addition to our test programme. We’d like to thank Porsche for making him available to us.”
