Falken claims it has once again proven the reliability of its performance tyres and finished the toughest endurance race under the most difficult conditions: 10th and 11th place at the 48th ADAC TOTAL 24h-Race 2020 at Nürburgring.
As so often, the famous “Eifel weather” provided the special spice for the endurance classic and turned the 25.378 kilometer long Nürburgring-Nordschleife into an unpredictable track. Over the entire race distance, changing weather conditions provided a lot of action and demanded a lot of the teams’ skills.
In the end, Falken once again managed to bring both Porsche 911 GT3 R to the finish line: 10th place for the #44 with Klaus Bachler, Sven Müller, Peter Dumbreck and Martin Ragginger at the wheel, 11th place for the #33 with the double starters Klaus Bachler and Sven Müller as well as Christian Engelhart and Dirk Werner.
For Falken, the qualifying started with a moment of shock when Peter Dumbreck had an accident in the track section “Fuchsröhre” at the night training on Thursday evening. During a night shift the Falken team was able to repair the #44 again, Dumbreck and his team mates qualified for the 27th starting position, but had to start the race at the end of the first starting group due to a rule violation. Things went better for the #33, the quartet secured the 21st starting position.
The race started on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. under the most difficult weather conditions. Constant rain, which was to become heavier as the race progressed, as well as recurring fog made the already big challenge “Green Hell” more difficult. The Falken Duo was able to put itself in the limelight and started an exciting catch-up race thanks to good tyre performance and flawless work of the drivers and the team.
Around 10:30 p.m. the race director decided to interrupt the event due to increasing rainfall. After a 9.5h break the race finally continued at 8:00 a.m. on sunday morning and Falken could prove itself again. In the end both Porsche finished the race and underpinned the great team performance.
Dirk Werner (#33): “This 24h race was a big challenge for all participants. Rain, accidents, oil on track, fog banks: You never knew what to expect in the next corner. Therefore the finish is already a great success and eleventh place is ok for us”.
Peter Dumbreck: “Over the entire distance it was a fine line between crash & arrival. It was incredibly difficult to keep the car on the road, the track was extremely slippery. In the end it was all about getting to the finish. I am very satisfied with the Top 10 result”.
