MT BLOG

Thank you very much

Jan.22, 2011 • Category 24h Nürburgring, Intl. GT-Open, Private, Race Reports, Racing, Twitter, VLN

Hello,

better late then never…;-)

I would like to say thank you to all of you who left me a message or comment on my blog.

I still have to read some of them. Most I have already read the last days since I am a bit better.

Just the not seeing to my right hemisphere gives me enough trouble to not read and writing anymore as before. It’s taking extremely long for me and is sometimes very frustrating. Anyhow, for now I have to start to liv with that, even though I don’t give up and hope it will get better in the future. 😉

This is my way of saying: “Thank You” to all of you for standing beside me in this time….

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My 2010 Season – 18 races in 2 Championships and the 24h of the Nordschleife

Apr.01, 2010 • Category 24h Nürburgring, Intl. GT-Open, Racing, VLN

Hi,

now it is official!

I will participate in 2 full Championships and in the 24h of the Nordschleife.

As in the past years, I will continue driving in the  VLN Championship and the 24h of the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

My partners will be the same as usual: Porsche and Manthey Racing of course…;-)

Never change a winning Team!

My second and new engagement this year will be in the International GT Open Championship. I will race with Phoenix Racing and share  an Audi R8-LMS  with Jim Matthew.

In the past years, I already raced with Jim in the Grand Am Series on an Daytona Prototype.

I am very happy to race with these two Teams. They both mean a lot to me. With Phoenix Racing I won my first 24h race at the Nordschleife in 2003 and with Manthey Racing I have achieved winning 4 more in the past years. Not to forget that most of my 18 VLN wins were with Manthey Racing.

Both teams are based at the Nürburgring what makes it much easier for me.

The Intl. GT Open Championship is a great series that goes to some of the best tracks in Europe. You should really have a look at it.

I am really looking forward to this busy Season and I am sure it will be a very challenging one!

…but thats what my Job is all about and I love it! ;-))

See you guys at the track…

Marcel

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VLN 8 – Best VLN Race 2009 for me but as well the most insane try to overtake ever!!!

Oct.09, 2009 • Category Race Reports, Racing, VLN

Hi everybody,

summer is over and as well the time where we had to wait more then 5 weeks for the next race.

The last months past by so quick, My sister got married in Belgrade ( My got what a party. Never tried homemade Slivovitza before but I have to say not too bad, no headaches. We were celebrating for 3 days in a row and it was one of the best weddings I’ve ever been 😉 .  If you are single, think about spending a weekend there. You wont regret it. The Parties you can have there are amazing.

Although I was quiet busy, I really missed the Nürburgring/ Nordschleife.

On friday I did some taxi drives and my Osteopath from Hamburg was able to get a lap with me. He is working as well for the Wolfsburg and Schalke 04 footballteam. He couldn’t get the smiling out of his face even hours later ;-). Amazing talent this guy and if you need a serious Osteopath or Physio, drop me a line!

…this race I was lucky to drive on two cars. The Wochenspiegel #116 and my regular one #117

I qualified the #116 with 8:13min on Pole. The Lap was great, I had only one yellow where I had to lift but otherwise hardly no traffic or at least no traffic that slows you down on some parts of the track.

To be able to drive on both cars I needed to start on the #116 and than finish with my #117

Start was good and I was able to lead by nearly 20 sec. after 8 Laps. I was also able to set the fastest Laptime in the race with 8:17min.

For me, the raceday started nearly perfect.

Unfortunately the #116 retired a bit later and again the Wochenspiegel car didn’t finish. These guys are not very lucky this year and its a shame because the car is so nice to drive even with less downforce then  the #117. ( but faster on the straight, thats why I could drive the fastest Laptime)

I didn’t have a lot time to relax. Only a view laps later Romain Dumas came in and I had to jump in for the last 9+3 laps.

We were on 4th position when I took over and my job from Olaf Manthey was to attack and try to gain as much as positions as possible.

So I did.

I closed the gap of approx. 15sec to the Audi with Marc Basseng on the wheel. I told Olaf that I am now behind the Audi but its not easy to pass because they are faster on the straights. We had 5 more laps to go and we needed to come in anyhow for fuel for 3 more Laps. So Olaf told me to come in at the end of this lap, if Basseng stays out. He did so I pushed coming in the Pitlane, late braking for the 60km/h pitspeed and hoped for a quick splash and dash! It was perfect and our strategy worked out. Now back on the track I pushed like crazy with no Audi in front of me. We knew he has to come in as well for the 3 Laps of fuel, so now was our chance to take the 2nd position from the Audi.

When I was driving down the Döttinger Höhe Olaf told me Basseng comes for his Pit Stop. Now I was nervous if my laptimes where fast enough to pass him before he comes again out on the track…………Done!, I was in front with a lead of a view seconds and 3 Laps to go.

He could gain back some time but was never close enough to pass me.

Now in the last lap , there was one more yellow and I guess he could close the gap a bit more but still nothing to worry about.

When I came out of Galgenkopf I could see that my advantage is enough to keep the 2nd place.

He never had a chance to attack me but I saw he is coming closer because of the higher topspeed of the Audi. Once you are passing the Tiergarten there is no way to overtake anymore, except he would have been already next to me. But that was not the case.

WHAT HAPPENED THAN:

While I was already driving the downhill left, this lunatic tried to overtake me on the inside. There was never ever a chance to pass me but I guess he has an ego problem, tried to proof everybody what kind of good driver he is and massed it up completely.

There was NO ROOM for him next to me, he touched me at the back left at approx. 275 km/h!!!

My car was immediately oversteering, I drove into the left grass before the compression still struggling to catch the car. My first thought was, if I loose the car or start to roll at that speed, I am dead….. Next thing was that I jumped over the track onto the right grass still not sure if I am able to control the car. By luck, I came back to the track before Hohenrain, the last left, right, left before the start and finish line.

Even after I came back on the track in one piece, he still pushed and tried to pass me!!! He didn’t understand what just happened or how this could have ended…..

In 17 years of racing all kinds of cars and tracks, I was never that scared….

Maybe now some will understand why I was out of control in the Parc ferme and behaved the way I did. Other racing people told me, they would not have been as controlled as I was with Basseng than!

Even if there was a chance, what wasn’t the case, you never try to overtake there. Thats the same for the Fuchsröhre or Schwedenkreuz and other spots on the Nordschleife. You have to be side by side BEFORE the Tiergarten Brücke, otherwise you lost the battle and have to stick back or try later.

These places are too dangerous for passing and it could end up in massive shunts, injuries or even worth.Most of you maybe remember the deadly accidents in Schwedenkreuz and  Tiergarten (Ulli Richter) a view year ago.

What Marc Basseng has done there is unacceptable, irresponsible  and he was risking his and my life.

I haven’t talked to anyone who is not agreeing…

This, I never want to experience again and I don’t wish that somebody will be in such a situation ever…..

Now I am looking forward to the next VLN race on the 17th.

The  Nordschleife is magic and has always been good to me.. 😉

see you guys,

Marcel

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My view of the 2009 “24h Nürburgring Race”

Jun.03, 2009 • Category 24h Nürburgring, Racing

As promised earlier I will give you my view of the race. I know it took some while, but I really wanted to get some time off and just enjoy what happened 😉 .

The tension  from the months before this race was extremely high. With all questions about the new rules and therefore the “Balance of performance” and of course if we are able to win again.

The weekend started already Thursday with the free practice and first Qualifying. In free practice I was not able to drive a lap as planned because were running out of time. In first qualifying the conditions were not very good because of the rain/ no rain.

It was my turn to go for the 2 laps that every driver needs to complete to get qualified  for the race. When Marc came in, I stayed on rain tyres but unfortunately it was already too dry and my rain tyres started to get too hot and therefore I had an uncontrollable rear end. For my second lap I changed for slick and typical Nordschleife, it started to rain! So that was it for me because on the next day we decided Marc is just going for 2 more qualifying laps. P2.

After the qualifying I was confident that we could keep the same speed as the Audis and I felt a bit more relaxed because we really didn’t know if this was the case.

Marc was the start driver and did a fantastic job. I was co-comentating the start on DSF and I was so excitited, that it was hard to sit still 😉 . For me it was another 4 hours before I got into the car and of course after Audi was taking P1 and drove lap times that we never expected we were all a bit nervous if we are able to keep the speed and follow them!

When I was going into the car, I was loaded with adrenalin and curious how my stint would be without much driving time the days before. As well, you shouldn’t forget that all Porsche works driver already drove in the 24h Daytona, 12h Sebring and many more endurance races than me this year. For me, it was this year my 4th race and maybe you can imagine the pressure I had 😉 . Luckywise I am good under pressure but of course you never know and you get usually a bit nervous before.

But my first stint showed, that there was no reason to be nervous. I was really quick and straight up to speed. I could close the gap to Audi and felt even more motivated to beat Audi and of course all the others.

For us drivers there was only one way to go and that was driving at the absolute limit of the car every single lap, no matter what!!!

About my second stint, there is not much to say. It was during the night and there was the very long yellow on the GP Track.

You could read in my Post before about the 3 min I got for not respecting the yellow. This was not the case and I was certain, that I did absolutely nothing wrong. Because of the new rules we are obliged to have a data-recorder in the car that can be only read by the officials. I was pushing Olaf , that somebody should go to the officials and show them our data and if they agree they could as well check their own. Thats what they did to verify. I was very happy that they looked at it again with the result getting our 3 min back. I have to say that this is definitely a good part of the new rules. The marshals are doing a fantastic job and I don’t blame them for anything but sometimes it is not easy for them to really see what happens and of course it is not easy to see if a car is driving under 50km/h or over for example. They always try to be as fair as possible and to see the situations right. At this point I would also thank them for what they are doing. Without all this volunteers around the track they wouldn’t be a race!

The morning has come and it was again my turn to get in the car. We gained back time step by step but we also knew, that we have to keep on pushing.

I think that this 8 laps were some of my most exciting ones on the Nordschleife. For me the “morning stints” are the bests. I love to see the sun go up, a bit less traffic, fresh air, the fans start to wake up and you are sitting in the car and just focused on driving. It felt so good that you are in a kind of own world where its just you the track and the car.

In this “state of balance” I drove the fastest Lap of the race and the whole stint was just superquick. When  Marc went in the car he even mentioned it to me while I was closing his seatbelt and I told him just push you can do it as well. And that’s what he did just a tiny bit slower than his fastest 😉 .

After this I really needed to take quick shower and a nap. When I woke up and I watched the screen, I hardly couldn’t imagine what I saw: Our car was on P1 and the Phoenix Audi dropped back. I didn’t know what happened then but I felt how a bit of the pressure was gone. The next thing in my mind was then hopefully we don’t get a problem as well after pushing that hard or hopefully we don’t get a puncture. You get one thing out of your mind and suddenly other becoming more important.

The other Audi was approx. 5 min behind us so we couldn’t completely let go and kept the speed high but not as fast as before.

My last stint was difficult from the concentration side. If you are not in need to push really hard and they tell you to drive around 9 min a lap, you have so much time to think. For example about the traffic when you pass or about the noises in the car everything is suddenly on your mind and you hope that things will just go fine…..

16.00, P1!!! I can not describe my feelings when we crossed the finish line. Everything is suddenly over and you try to realize what just happened: 4 times in a row and 5 times for me. Wow, its just amazing.

All the hard work from the Team and us drivers paid of at the end and there is not much that makes you more excited than that. Even for days afterwards you are living out of this and enjoying and realizing what happened.

All the days after I was still so “high” that I couldn’t wait to get back in the car and still now I am looking forward to next week for the next VLN race.

One thing you realize the night after the race: Pain! Every time you turn around in bed your back and butt is hurting and this for days 😉 .

I want like to thank all of you for your support and I hope that we can do it again!!!

… I mean why not? ;-))

24h-2009

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VLN 2 Raceday/ started bad but ended better: P3

Apr.19, 2009 • Category Racing, VLN

It didn’t look that good for us on Saturday morning. Already on Friday we found out that we do have a problem with our rain tires when its under 15 degrees celsius. The car is just snapping on the rear end, caused by the tires loosing the grip suddenly and leaves us with massive oversteer in fast corners.

So we were prepared to work on it in the qualifying session. But than when Romain Dumas was on his first timed lap, at Wehrseifen he was just rolling out with a problem. At the end we found out that there was something wrong with a shaft between the differential and Gearbox.

So no time for us and starting from the rear in the first group.

To make it short, our tire problem was still there and we lost more than 2 minutes in the first half of the race.

When I jumped in the car, we tried a different set of tires and also modified the car. This was supposed to give us a better balance.

At the beginning of my stint, I was able to hold the pace while I was fighting with a Porsche Cup car. Later I found out that it was Christopher Mies. He did a great job and was probably happy to play with me and the green and yellow Porsche  😉 . But there I could see again how dramatic our problem was. He could take a speed into the fast curves, I was dreaming about!

But my time was coming, because with slightly drying condition the rain tires and our modifications started to work great and I was able to catch up to the front by nearly 10-15 sec a lap. That put me into P2.

Near the end, I had to come in for a splash and dash and a new set of rain tires. After that we actually lost our position to Audi that by than was driving 10 seconds faster than me.

Still we managed to end up P3 coming from the back of the field!

I think we learned a lot this rainy weekend and we know, that we have to work closer with Michelin to give us the tires we need. Temperatures at the end of May in the night won’t be much higher and to win the 24h again we need to solve that problem.

Overall I believe that with the “Balance of Performance” the GT3 cars are in a slightly better situation than us for the moment…..apparently.

More work and preparation has to be done….! 😉

Marcel

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Rainy day

Apr.17, 2009 • Category 24h Nürburgring, Racing, VLN

Hi,

I already arrived yesterday afternoon at the Nürburgring. Sunny and nice. But today it seems to rain the whole day.

I heard it should be better tomorrow. Let’s see.

Still sitting in the Hotel am Tiergarten and surf a bit the net. I heard that Audi was testing the last 3 days on the Nordschleife. I guess they still looking for the right Setup.

To be honest, its only 5 weeks to go before the 24h and slowly I get more and more excited about it. For me it is such an important thing. If we could win it again, I would be the only one who won it 5 times times and with Timo Bernhard together 4times in a row.

But there are the Audis the other Porsches and many others that don’t want to see us winning again…

But there are 24h to go…

But we can do mistakes…

But we don’t know if our car is fast enough because of the new “Balance of Performance”…

Too many “buts” so I guess we have to stay focused, push like no tomorrow and not dreaming too much. ;-))

…otherwise we have to try again and again and again. That’s in hour blood, right?

see ya

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Going East

Feb.24, 2009 • Category Private, Racing

Hello everybody,
it’s still very new for me writing on my blog.
But with my iPhone and a Internet or data connection, it is very easy for me to give you sometimes an update about my racing and everything around that.

Because I am racing all over the world and have people following me from there, I decided to write in english.
I hope that my German speaking fans understand that. 😉

This time I will let you take part of my trip to Japan with Olaf Manthey…

After an 12 hours flight, we finally arrived in Tokyo. Olaf Manthey and me are invited from “Manthey-Motors Far East” to the Fuji Racetrack for a 2 day “Driving Experience” event.
I am really looking forward to it since my last time in Japan was in 1998. Back than, Jean-Marc Gounon and me were driving the 1000km of Suzuka with a Mercedes CLK-GT. It’s still one of my favourite tracks.
We had a fantastic time and the race was real fun but as often we couldn’t really see anything from the Country.

I am really curious about all the different impressions I will get from Japan in the next 5 days…

Here are some links:

Manthey Motors Far East

Fuji International Speedway

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VLN – 34. DMV Münsterlandpokal

Dec.04, 2008 • Category Race Calender, Racing, VLN

Date: 31-10-2009

Distanz: 4 Stunden
Training: 08:30 Uhr
Start: 12:00 Uhr

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VLN – 33. DMV 250-Meilen-Rennen

Dec.04, 2008 • Category Race Calender, Racing, VLN

Date: 17-10-09

Distanz: 4 Stunden
Training: 08:30 Uhr
Start: 12:00 Uhr

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