We took victory in the Pro-Am class of the Blancpain Endurance Series finale held at the Nurburgring. This class win allowed our team to improve to 5th place in class as the season drew to a close.
On the Grand Prix circuit of the Nurburgring the season finale played out as 55 cars from 10 manufacturers slugged it out for victory. Right in the middle of the action was our privately developed Emil Frey GT3 Jaguar.
Free practice and qualifying didn’t yield the desired results for our drivers Lorenz Frey, Fredy Barth and Gabriele Gardel, until Barth found some space in the final qualifying session and was able to post a clean lap good enough for 25th spot on the grid.
Barth kicked off the three hour race as he had left qualifying, hauling our Emil Frey GT3 Jaguar up through the field to 4th in class. A late driver change to Lorenz Frey maximised Barth’s excellent progress.
What Barth started both Lorenz Frey and Gabriele Gardel continued, throughout their stints fighting hard for every tenth of a second gained. Helped by exceptional pit work by our team Gardel suddenly found himself heading for home leading the Pro-Am class.
It almost ended in disaster as Gardel was baulked by a lapped car numerous times through the last few corners dropping him back into the jaws of the chasing car. As the cars crossed the line he has managed to hold it off and taken our first Blancpain Endurance Series victory by a margin of just three-tenths of a second. This catapulted the team up the standings to 17th place overall and 5th place in the Pro-Am class.
Lorenz Frey: « We are happy to finish the season with such a fantastic result. »
Fredy Barth: « At last! We have believed for a long time in the potential of our Emil Frey GT3 Jaguar. Now everyone knows how good it is! The whole team has worked incredibly hard throughout the season and this victory is the perfect way to cap a successful season for the team.”
Gabriele Gardel: « At the end I had to fight hard and lost time due to lapped cars. This victory though was not going to fall from my grasp. »
Jürg Flach: « We have continuously improved throughout the season. Despite some minor technical problems the whole team worked well today and deserved to win.”
Press release Emil Frey Racing
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