His
first two attempts ending in retirements due to mechanical problems and so Romain
Dumas hadn’t been able to succeed in his main objective, namely to do as many
laps as possible around the long Nordschleiffe circuit. This time it was
the weather which nearly which threatened to disrupt the Porsche driver’s plans.
But the obstinacy of the man from Alès who has been taking part in race after
race the past few weekends, finally paid off. The Manthey Racing team did their
part too in preparing for Romain and Timo Bernhard a much modified and improved
car compared with the one they drove in the last events. The exhaust system
had been revamped. The parts which had faille din the first races had been strengthened
and the car’s handling had been changed. The tyre tests had gone well and the
preparations for the Nürburgring 24 Hours were well in hand. The No 111 Manthey
Racing Porsche will soon have a new, more rigid rear spoiler.It didn’t take long for all the hard work to make itself felt, when Timo, Romain’s only co-driver for this race, set pole position time. In the race
the aim was to try out the tyres and to give Romain the maximum amount of time
around the track. The team had therefore decided to split the race into three
stints. Romain, logically, would do the first and the third. So he was leading
for the start of the race and crossed the finish line still in the lead, with
a considerable lead of 2’36.428 over the second placed car and having also set
the fastest race lap. As for the two refuelling stops and driver changes, they
too went perfectly to plan.So everything looks good for the Nürburgring 24 Hour race which will be run over June 7-10. Romain will be teamed up with Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb and Marcel Tiemann.
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