After Falken Motorsports Porsche 991 GT3R duo Martin Ragginger and Klaus Bachler won VLN6, the band got back together for the VLN season finale. In the 43. DMV Münsterlandpokal, the Austrians won once more to sent the fan-signed Porsche into retirement with a bang.
“I have to thank Falken Motorsports and Schnabl Engineering who prepared the car superbly. Klaus also did a mega job again,” says Martin Ragginger.
“I just had to drive it home as the gap was very big.
“I’m looking forward to next year. Also, a big thanks to the fans that have supported us—the car looks wonderful!”
In for the first stint was Klaus Bachler. The 27-year-old took went into the lead after a short but fierce battle for second with Christian Krognes, immediately inheriting first place after the race-leading Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Christopher Mies ran into technical problems.
With a different strategy than HTP Motorsport and Black Falcon, Falken Motorsports yielded the lead after the first round of pitstops only to take it back in the final hour and never look back.
“To be honest, the first win, in VLN6, was a weight off my mind—it was a huge relief,” says Klaus Bachler.
“Today we got back together again and immediately took another win. The season couldn’t have ended any better. I’m now looking forward even more to the new season, after finishing this year like this.”
2019 will see Falken Motorsports bring a new car, the 2019-spec Porsche 991 GT3R. After the team’s victory in VLN6, they got the chance to try their hands at the upgraded machine at VLN7.
“It’s a big difference from the old car to the new,” says Ragginger, who got to race the prototype.
“Not big as in that you’ll say, ‘it’s going 10 kilometre per hour faster’, it’s simply a bit better all-round: under braking, through the corners. It’s easier to drive, which I think is also very important for amateur drivers because GT3 is in principle meant for customer racing, so you’ll need to cover that as well. Porsche has done a great job.”
Interview by Alex Striege/VLN-Fanpage.de.
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