24 Hours of Spa - race preview

This weekend, Markus is racing for Prospeed Competition in the 24 Hours of Spa. Markus is sharing the team's Porsche GT3 Cup S with Oskar Slingerland, David Loix and Niki Lanik. Porsche is traditionally a very good choice for long distance races, the team leading the FIA GT Championship is very experienced and with a well-balanced driver line-up, the #161 Porsche is one of the favourites in G3 class. The qualifying was shadowed by brake troubles and Markus was sitting in the car waiting in the box when everyone else set their times on a dry track. Later on, it was raining and the team decided to concentrate in getting all drivers qualified for the race in the night session. Markus was one of the fastest out there in wet, but the team had to settle with a grid position 34 among 39 cars (P10 in class).

"Well, to keep it short, yesterday was quite bad with the brakes giving us a lot of headache in practice and qualifying. However, we were still able to work on the car and in the end got the brakes fixed. I was looking forward to qualifying, but to be honest, qualifying's role is more to boost the drivers and it doesn't make a big difference in a race like this. We still have more than a good chance to fight for the class win and I'm expecting a very interesting battle with the Ford GTs, Aston Martin, Ferrari and all the other Porsches.

In addition to qualifying, I had two important targets for yesterday. First, I wanted to find a good race set-up and I think we are pretty well set with what we now have. The car is excellent in wet, which was proved by my time in the night qualifying and also all of us being quick in the wet free practice, but it is also good for dry. We are ready for the traditional mixed conditions Spa often offer. Secondly, I wanted all the drivers to settle in and find a good team-spirit for the weekend. I think we are well set there, too. David is a local driver with lot of experience and I'm sure he will do great. Niki is a young gun who's never done a 24h race and didn't drive in Spa before yesterday. However, he knows the car well, having raced it in FIA GT3 and he was simply excellent yesterday. He was immediately quick in both wet and dry on one of the most difficult circuits in the world and he's also a nice bloke with the right attitude, so it's good to have him onboard. Oskar describes himself as a gentleman with midlife crisis pushing him to race and he's the glue tighing us together. He's only in his 2nd year of racing, but we've done some tests together and I've been impressed by his progress and pace in both a Cup car and an RSR. He's never raced in Spa before, but he was great yesterday, especially on wet. We all have the necessary pace now and we are all ready to face the challenge. If we keep it cool, take care of the car and avoid mistakes, we will be hard to beat in the end."