Falken Motorsports celebrates a podium finish at the season NLS opener
For Falken Motorsports, the start to the new motorsport season has been an impressive success: At the 58th ADAC Barbarossapreis, which was actually supposed to be the second round of the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) season, but now marked the start of the new season after last weekend's cancellation, Sven Müller and Tim Heinemann secured third place overall in the No. 44 Porsche 911 GT3 R. The team is thus seamlessly building on the strong performances of last season.
The fact that a strong overall result would be possible at the first race of the year was already evident in qualifying: Although the duo did not get a perfect lap, Sven Müller and Tim Heinemann qualified the turquoise-blue Falken Porsche with starting number 44 in a promising tenth place on the grid. The full potential of the Falken racing tyres was also used in the race: Already on the first lap, start driver Sven Müller fought an intense battle against the competition.
As the race progressed, the duo steadily worked their way forward and established themselves in the top 5 by the halfway point of the race. In the final phase, Tim Heinemann once again set decisive accents and overtaking manoeuvres worth seeing: On the last lap of the race, the German was even in close contact with second place, which he ultimately missed by around a second. Nevertheless, Heinemann and Müller were able to climb onto the podium right at the start of the new season.
The first race of the new season was also a promising start for the Falken customer team Max Kruse Racing: Jan Jaap van Roon, Tom Coronel and Rudy van Buuren finished 23rd overall in the Audi R8 LMS GT3, which is powered by alternative fuel, while the sister car with Dominik and Marcel Fugel as well as Benjamin Leuchter finished 30th overall. Only the two VW Golf GTI TCRs had to be parked prematurely.
Falken Motorsports is continuing its preparations for the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring (14 to 17 May): In three weeks' time, the third round of the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) will take place with the 57th Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy (11 April).