Nurburgring: Pierre Ehret race report

Pierre Ehret takes Podium at 1000km Nurburgring

Pierre Ehret celebrated a great third rank during the 4th round of the Le Mans Series at the Nurburgring. Together with his teammates Dominik Farnbacher and Anthony Beltoise this meant a big success on german ground.

"It's always great to reach the podium" Ehret stated after the race. "If this happens on the Nurburgring it is even better."

Same way as Ehret did at the Le Mans Series at Portugal, he shared the Cockpit of the Ferrari F430 GTC again with the german Dominik Farnbacher and frenchman Anthony Beltoise for the 1000 kilometres of Nurburgring in GT2 category.

Since 1953 the endurance race in the Eifel is very popular. Up to 1983 one even started on the Nordschleife in front of thousands of fans around the track. The "modern" 1000km race is held since the year 2000. Since 2004 the Le Mans Series is hosted on the GP version of the circuit.

During the free practice sessions on the 5.137 kilometres long track one had a lot of understeer. After taking ranks seven, nine and five the trio was not really happy. Even in qualifying the problem was present and so one only took position seven.

But the tactic and fast lap times helped to improve during the six hours race. Beltoise drove the start and handed over the Ferrari to Dominik Farnbacher being classified fifth. The latter drove a double stint and caught up to third rank, when Pierre Ehret took his seat in the cockpit.

"Pierre drove a perfect stint", teamhead Horst Farnbacher explained. "He had a tough duel with the Snoras Spyker which he was able to keep behind. This were perfect conditions for the next turn of Beltoise."

Unfortunately the race direction later penalized Beltoise with a "stop-and- go" drive through the pits due to an action in a fight with an opponent. So one lost a lot of time and all chances for the victory too. Yet the fight for rank two was close. After 195 laps one finally missed place two by only four seconds.

Nevertheless the team was happy by reaching rank three, gaining important points for the championship. Especially since it was the only event of the Le Mans Series in Germany. In the championship table Pierre Ehret is ranking on position three before the final round of the season.

In three weeks the final round will be held at Silverstone on 13th September 2009.

-credit: pe