Markus Palttala and Stefan Landmann won the final race of the season finishing 6th overall in the process. After a season filled with bad luck and accidents, the entire RTR powered by SIMFYmusic team was happy to finish on a high.
“Finally! We’ve lead several times this season but this was the first time we crossed the line first. I’m really happy for everyone in the team, because we kept pushing until the end and it paid off. The race was tough as it started wet and then went from mixed to dry. I took the lead in the first lap and pulled away. However, we stayed on wets a bit too long and after the first round of pitstops I had dropped to 3rd in class, over a minute behind the leaders. I pushed like crazy to come back and after the next pitstop, Stefan started his stint just a couple of seconds behind the leading duo. He did a great run passing our competitors and during the last hour I just had to manage the gap and avoid trouble. The Simfy Porsche #110 handled well, pitstops by the RTR crew were spotless and we both drove without mistakes. It was nice to confirm that when all pieces fall together, we are on top.”
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Markus Palttala, Stefan Landmann and Henrik Still retired with an empty fuel tank on the last lap while running 2nd in class and 7th overall. Palttala had qualified 11th, 2nd in Cup, in the mixed conditions and took the lead on the opening lap. Fight for the lead went on for hours but in the end, the fuel strategy didn’t work out and the Finn had to park the car half way through the final lap.
“It is really frustrating because we were right there in the fight for the top spot. The overall leaders crossed the line just before the flag fell and it surprised us that there was one more lap to go. We knew it was going to be risky but decided to try all or nothing. It came to nothing but good news is I was able to take the lead in the beginning and pull away for a while so we are on the right way. I also had lots of fun because we started in the middle of the faster cars due to the wet qualifying session. The Cup class is so tough that you can’t win without pushing it to the limit. We learned a lot again and have one more chance in 2 weeks to challenge for the win.”
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Markus Palttala, Stefan Landmann and Henrik Still finished 2nd in the Porsche Cup class and 10th overall – the strongest class result of the RTR / Simfy Porsche #110 this season.
“I really enjoyed the opening stint. I was fighting like crazy and moved from 19th to top 10 and from 4th in class to 2nd. It was a good stint full with fair battles. I was catching the class leading Manthey Porsche but eventually lost a bit in traffic and pitted a few seconds behind it. Henrik took over and did a decent stint considering it was his first race in our Porsche. Stefan did a solid job in the end but we were too far away from the leaders and had to settle for 2nd. Anyway, after the disappointment of the last few races, this was a nice reward for the team for their hard work. Two races to go and we really want to win.”
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Markus Palttala, Henri Moser and Nick Catsburg finished 6th in Pro Cup after a brake failure lead to a longer pitstop, which dropped the Marc VDS BMW Z4 GT3 #4 trio from podium contention. The sister car of Martin, Leinders and Buurman finished 2nd securing the Team Championship title for Marc VDS Racing Team.
“We really were not lucky this year in BES. Again, we were one of the strongest cars out there and were on the way to finish on the podium. However, one of the brake pads failed leading to unscheduled service and we had to settle with 7th overall, 6th in the Pro class. Still, we won the Team Championship and that was our main target this year. In car #4, we did our part for it during the season and we are all very happy with the first title the Marc VDS Racing Team has won during its 5-year existence. Congratulations and thank you to Marc van der Straten and every single member of our team. Thanks also to Henri and Nicky for being awesome teammates and to the amazing car #4 crew for pushing with us.”
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For a second time in a row, the RTR powered by Simfy Porsche #110 was forced to retire due to accident damage before Markus got a chance to jump in. Stefan Landmann crashed out aquaplaning on slicks in difficult conditions resulting in a damaged front water cooler and ending the race of RTR’s Porsche-trio.
“It’s frustrating when you know you have a competitive package but something always goes wrong. It was a lottery with tyre choices because the weather kept changing rapidly. We got it wrong and Stefan was out on slicks when it was poring down with rain. He simply lost it aquaplaning and tapped the wall. The damage was not big but the cooler was leaking, so it was impossible to bring the car back to pits and Stefan had to park it.”
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Markus Palttala, Jos Menten and Stefan Landmann retired when the latter had a heavy accident early in the race, while running 2nd, and the Porsche #110 of RTR powered by Simfy was damaged beyond repairs.
“The accident was pretty rough, so the most important is that Stefan and all the other drivers and track marshals involved are OK. This 6-hour race is the highlight of the VLN-season and I feel we had the strongest package today, so of course we are all very disappointed that the race was cut so short. We just need to be patient and continue pushing hard and we will get on that top step of the podium we all want so bad.”
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Markus Palttala, Bas Leinders, Henri Moser and Richard Göransson were forced to retire when Leinders suffered a heavy crash with a slower car some 7 hours before the end of the race. Until the unfortunate accident, the BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS Z4 #26 was having a strong race and running currently on 3rd position. The sister car of Maxime Martin, Yelmer Buurman and Andrea Piccini joined by Göransson finished a superb 2nd, saving the day for Marc VDS and BMW Motorsport.
”The Nordschleife is always dangerous and even more so in such tricky conditions we had this weekend. Bas’ accident was a real shame as we were running in top 3 and our pace was very good both on wet and dry. We were ahead of the #25, which eventually finished 2nd, so there was more than a good chance to get on the podium. Well, that didn’t happen, but I’m really satisfied with how competitive we were and I’m real proud of the entire Marc VDS team. It has been great for us to act as an official BMW works team and I’d like to thank BMW for their support and confidence in us. Personally, I will go home empty handed, being the quickest BMW driver in qualifying the only small consolidation, but we all were cheering for #25 when Max got from 4th to 2nd during the last hour.”
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Markus Palttala, Henri Moser and Richard Göransson finished 12th in the 2nd VLN race of the season. Having raced at Monza when VLN took off, this was the only opportunity for Marc VDS Racing Team to prepare for one of the highlights of this season, the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, and the team decided to run 3 cars in order to collect as much information as possible.
”It was great to finally get to race on the Nordschleife after the long winter. Chances to prepare for the big one were limited to this one-day event, so we really approached it as a test. All 3 cars were on different set-ups, strategies and even tyres, to make sure we learn as much as possible. The race started wet, went to damp and then dried up, so we got to run in all conditions. We struggled a bit on wet in these cold conditions, as we were unable to put temperature on the tyres. For the rest, the car ran well and it’s just awesome to push around this magnificent circuit in a BMW Z4. We finished 12th in the #26 car and ahead of the two other VDS cars, so it was a job well done. We’ll next do a 24h simulation at Magny-Cours and will be ready for the 24 Hours.”
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