GTWC R2 Paul Ricard 6hrs

GTWC Paul Ricard 6hrs

After a competitive showing for the BMW M6 GT3 and Walkenhorst at a less favourable track like Monza, the #34 & #35 Walkenhorst crews were feeling optimistic going into R2 of the GTWC challenge season for the 6hrs of Paul Ricard that would start in the late afternoon and finish at midnight, the perfect dress rehearsal for the Spa24hrs coming up next in the championship. Friday proved to be a good day of running with the #34 car showing good qualifying and long run pace with the drivers and engineers making good progress with the set up to make the car as competitive as possible, leaving the team happy going into qualifying and the race on Saturday.

“I had only done Paul Ricard once before with historic cars, so it was basically like learning a new track for me. However my prep work paid off and I was able to immediately be on the pace of my team mates and our competitors. I was looking forward to a proper endurance double stint coming up in the race as well!”

Qualifying took place first thing on Saturday morning with Sheldon Van Der Linde & Marco Wittman placing the #34 car P5 on the grid showing how competitive they could make the M6 in the South of France. However in the long wait before the 6hr race could begin, David was on SRO Esports duties again where he was able to finish P3 in the PRO class to score Walkenhorst’s first team championship points of the season… virtually!

“I made a couple of mistakes in my qualifying lap meaning we weren’t on the front row which I think the team deserved however we were in a strong place to start for the 6hrs. There was no rest after qualifying as I was straight into virtual qualifying and the 1hr race. On the Monday of the Paul Ricard event I’d just taken devlivery of my new sim, so barely had time to build it and then get some practice in before leaving, however something was better than nothing and it put me in a better place than in Monza!”

The shortened E-Sports race, after a server failure, started with a bang as David was turned around on Lap1, dropping him to near last for the shortened 45min race. However consistent lap times, a solid pitstop and a fast car down the Mistral straight mean David was able to work his way up to the podium of the PRO class.

David then had a few hours to rehydrate before jumping in his real M6 GT3 car to start the 6hrs from P5 where he was able to initially make 1 place off the start before settling back into P5 and go with the pack ahead of him and run the uninterrupted 2hrs double stint within reach of the leaders, bringing the #34 car upto P3 as he handed over after 2hrs and after some speedy Walkenhorst pitwork the car exited with Marco Wittman aboard in P2, right in the mix!

The car would continue to run in the top3 for 3hours before contact just before the final stop meant a delayed pitstop as repairs had to be made and the car dropped from a podium position to P8.