• A 1-2 for Mercedes-AMG
• First overall VLN race win for Mercedes-AMG in the year 2019
• Class wins for BLACK FALCON in SP8T and SP10

Mercedes-AMG Motorsport not only claims a 1-2 in the overall result, but also a pair of class wins in the SP8T and SP10 categories in the fourth season round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring. With this result, Mercedes-AMG seamlessly builds on the excellent achievements with second place overall and a class win (SP10) in the 24-hour race. In partly changeable conditions in the Eifel, the BLACK FALCON Team AutoArena Motorsport with starting number 6 secured the overall win that also marked the first victory for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the 2019 VLN season. In second place, the GetSpeed Performance team scored its first overall podium finish at the Nürburgring since changing to Mercedes-AMG for the current season. The class wins for the BLACK FALCON cars with starting numbers 162 and 155 rounded out the successful achievements for the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach.

Right at the beginning of the fourth event of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürbugring, the order was upset: following an accident in qualifying, the session had to be interrupted for over one hour. Prior to the interruption, Manuel Metzger (GER) had already posted a time of 8m03.990s behind the wheel of the #6 BLACK FALCON Mercedes-AMG GT3 which, at the end of qualifying, turned out to be enough to secure third place on the grid. Marek Böckmann (GER) managed to go almost four tenths of a second faster with his GetSpeed Performance Mercedes-AMG GT3 and started from second position into the race that was shortened to 3.5 hours as a result of the delays. Fabian Schiller, who drove the GetSpeed Performance entry with starting number 23, put his car in fifth place overall on the grid.

The opening stages of the race saw a close five-way battle with many lead changes in which the three Mercedes-AMG GT3s featured as well. After the first pit stops and with light rain in some parts of the track, there was a double lead with Marek Böckmann in the number 2 and Patrick Assenheimer in the number 6 car. After the final driver changes, a thrilling head-to-head duel for the overall lead followed. Philip Ellis, who had taken over the car from Böckmann, staged a duel with his fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Manuel Metzger for many laps, the latter having taken over from Patrick Assenheimer. Metzger eventually managed to make a pass with a spirited move and slightly pulled clear, only for another three-way battle for the lead to unfold a few laps before the end.  

Metzger defended first place while Ellis temporarily dropped back to third. The final decision in a highly exciting race only came with less than ten minutes remaining as all the cars from the front-running group headed into the pits for a quick fuel stop. Manuel Metzger benefited from his later stop, came back on track with a margin of over one minute and dominantly brought his lead home. During his fuel stop, Philip Ellis moved up into second place and completed the 1-2 for Mercedes-AMG. The second GetSpeed Performance GT3 with Janine Hill (GBR), John Shoffner (USA) and Fabian Schiller finished the race in twelfth place overall (P3 in SP9 Pro-Am).

Two class wins by the BLACK FALCON Mercedes-AMG GT4s
Having started from first place on the grid in their class SP10, drivers Tobias Müller (GER), Tim Scheerbarth (GER) and Tristan Viidas (EST) secured class victory with their BLACK FALCON Team IDENTICA Mercedes-AMG GT4 and extended their lead in the class standings. In the SP8T class, a Mercedes-AMG GT4 also claimed class honours: here, Carlos Rivas (LUX), Ace Robey (USA) and Tobias Wahl (GER), who were also racing under BLACK FALCON entry, came out on top.

On 3 August, VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring action continues with the fifth round of the season, the highlight that is the ROWE 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen.

Manuel Metzger, BLACK FALCON Team AutoArena Motorsport #6: “It was some hard work against our colleagues from GetSpeed Performance, especially on the final laps. It was a tough, but fair battle for victory. Of course, we are overjoyed to have won.”

Patrick Assenheimer, BLACK FALCON Team AutoArena Motorsport #6: “We had high hopes coming to this race, but it is super that things were actually going so well. The team did a perfect job in preparing the car. My start wasn’t easy, I had to fight hard with my fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Marek Böckmann. Then, however, I was able to keep the pace, closing up over and over again and eventually get past and take second place. That was one of my best stints in the VLN so far, perhaps even slightly better than during the VLN race win last year.”

Marek Böckmann, GetSpeed Performance #2: “That was my toughest race ever. It had a little bit of everything: an exciting start, a bit of rain and many duels with slight contact. However, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 being a solid construction, there weren’t any problems. We have been fighting hard for the win, but our colleagues were a bit faster than us today. Our goal was to finish on the podium and that is what we did. The team gave us a great car and has done a super job. We just are mega happy.”

* excerpt, subject to confirmation by the organisers