BLACK FALCON celebrates two class victories and experiences a heartbeat finale at VLN7

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VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring - Race Report Round 7

The seventh round of the VLN Endurance Championship had a lot of action in store for BLACK FALCON. In changing weather conditions the team from Meuspath celebrated two class victories, a second and a third place. The team was successful with Mustafa Mehmet Kaya (TR) and Yannick Mettler (CH) at the wheel of the Knuffi Mercedes-AMG GT4 #152 in the SP8T and Alexander Akimenkov (RU), Ronny Lethmate (DE) and Vasilii Selivanov in the Porsche 991 Carrera #395 of the BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR in the class V6. The crew of the IDENTICA Mercedes-AMG GT4 #162 made sure of a real heartbeat final with one of the narrowest finishes in VLN history: On the way to the finish line, the AMG GT4 fought an acceleration duel with a BMW M4 GT4 and finished second in the SP10 class, just 0.019 seconds behind. The Porsche 991 GT3 Cup MR II #57 and its pilots Peter Ludwig (US) and Maik Rosenberg (DE) contributed the fourth podium place of the day with third place in the SP7 class to the team's excellent result.

BLACK FALCON Team Knuffi
In the Knuffi Mercedes-AMG GT4 #152 Kaya and Mettler secured an unchallenged victory in the SP8T class. Started from pole position, the duo completed a flawless race and relegated ex-Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle to second place. In the championship classification of the SP8T class Kaya is almost unbeatable in the lead two races before the end.
The sister car, the Knuffi AMG GT4 #155, was again driven by Christoph Hoffmann (DE), Axel König (DE) and Norbert Schneider (DE). After fourth place in qualifying, the team started well into the race and was able to make up some positions in the overall standings. A longer repair break after a small accident cost a lot of time, so that at the end fifth place in the class was reached.

BLACK FALCON Team IDENTICA
For Tobias Müller (DE), Tim Scheerbarth (DE) and Tristan Viidas (EE), after second place at VLN7, an exciting fight for the championship in two remaining races of the season is emerging. The day started for the IDENTICA AMG GT4 with second place in the rainy qualifying. Scheerbarth took over the task of the starting driver and took the lead in the class still on the Grand Prix circuit. After an excellent stint, in which he had started an escape to the front, he handed over to Viidas, who was driving on slicks while the track was drying. Another rain shower forced the team to change to rain tyres again, but the crew lost a lot of time on the way into the pits. Viidas narrowed the resulting gap lap by lap before handing it over to Müller, a little under a minute behind. The 21-year-old burned a real firework in his stint, closed the gap to the leader and passed the BMW 3 km before the finish. But when he braked for the last corner Müller ran into a slower car, so that the BMW had a better starting position when accelerating out and crossed the finish line 0.019 seconds before the IDENTICA AMG GT4. In the SP10 class championship, the BMW drivers and the BLACK FALCON squad are now head-to-head at the top of the standings.

BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR
Similarly close as in the SP10 was the result in the class V6. Akimenkov, Lethmate and Selivanov won with just about one second ahead of the runners-up. The crew of the near-series 911 started the race from third on the grid and fought their way forward in the course of the race thanks to a strong performance. With their fourth class victory of the year, they extend their championship lead in the V6 and now hold a six-point lead.

The " wide body " Porsche 991 GT3 Cup MR II of Ludwig and Rosenberg started from third position in the SP7 class. For a long time the duo remained within striking distance of the leading group of the SP7 and conquered several places in the overall classification during the race. After four hours of racing, the Porsche crossed the finish line to class three and as a strong 13th in the overall classification.

The penultimate VLN race of the year will take place on Saturday, October 12th and will run over the usual distance of four hours. BLACK FALCON will start with at least 6 cars and will bring the AutoArena Mercedes-AMG GT3 back to the Nordschleife after a break of one race.

More information about the BLACK FALCON team is available daily on the team's social media channels:

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