NLS5&6 – The double header

NLS the double header

After the success of the double header race weekend in 2020, the NLS organised its 2nd double header weekend right before the summer break in mid July.

The #34 car was able to qualify in P7 For the first race of the weekend and Christian Krognes would start the car. The #34 car boxed off strategy to the other cars to jump the cars ahead of it to be running net P1/P2 as Chris & Ben Tuck traded sector times with the BMW Junior car for the virtual race lead looking to be ahead at the final round of pitstops.

With the cars being 3mins apart on track, the #34 caught a code-60 zone on Ben’s in lap which the #44 BMW Junior car did not meaning going into the final stint the advantage laid with the BMW Junior car. David took over the #34 car and pushed to close the gap to the car ahead where he managed to bring the gap down from significantly in a couple of laps before a rear right puncture stopped Davids charge! One Silver lining was that it happened on the GP circuit meaning a quick trip into the pits to change the tyre rather than limping the car the full Nordschleife. However with the time lost the #34 car would finish P5

“It was an exciting race to watch up until I got in the car. We played the strategy to Chris’ strength which was to put him in clean air and we were able to jump a few cars from finishing the 1st stint to when Ben also finished a very impressive stint. However when you do that you have to get lucky with the Code-60s and we thought we had until Ben’s in lap which put us on the back foot. I was super determined to get the win for the team as we had showed great pace all year, when the tyre went and that was that”

It was straight into another 4hr race for NLS6 the next day, and the #34 crew shrugged off their disappointments from the day before to hit the ground running. Having lost his qualifying lap record at NLS4, Chris then raised the bar and lowered the record qualifying time to a 7:51.807, which put the #34 on pole position!

Starting from Pole David held the lead through T1 and started to build a gap to the cars behind, however going with David was the #5 Phoenix car of Frank Stippler, who was able to slip stream past the #34 car on Lap3, where David then followed for the remainder of the stint to build the gap to the cars behind and hand over to Ben. Ben again made an impressive stint to fight with Vincent Kolb for the virtual lead of the race before handing over to Christian to finish the race. Having closed down the gap to the race leader, with 2 laps remaining, Chris was able to make the move on the GP circuit and then extend the margin to win NLS6!

“Finally! Redemption! We’ve been so close to that all year but small issues have stopped us from putting a whole result together! The drivers and team have been doing great jobs all year and we’re finally rewarded with a proper result!”