After dealing with the wet start to the race, Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Ben Tuck in the #74 BMW M4 GT4 tells us about the opening laps of the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Ben, who shares the car with Jörg Breuer, Dirk-Tobias Wahl and Sami-Matti Trogen, qualified second in the SP8T class, beaten only by his team-mates in the sister machine.
NÜRBURGRING 24 HOURS: LATEST NEWS | ENTRY LIST | ENTRY LIST UPDATE | LIVE STREAM | PODCAST WITH MANUEL METZGER | THURSDAY QUALIFYING REPORT | FRIDAY QUALIFYING REPORT | MID-RACE REPORT | RACE REPORT | GALLERY, PT.I | GALLERY, PT.II | HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO
DRIVER REPORTS | QUALIFYING: TIM SCHEERBARTH – THURSDAY | LARS KERN | BEN TUCK | THOMAS KIEFER | DAVID PITTARD | MANUEL METZGER | TIM SCHEERBARTH
DRIVER REPORTS | RACE SATURDAY: BEN TUCK | THOMAS KIEFER | LARS KERN | SUNDAY: TIM SCHEERBARTH | BEN TUCK | FINISH: TIM SCHEERBARTH | LARS KERN | BEN TUCK | THOMAS KIEFER
Ben Tuck: “I was elected to take the start and I was really excited about that but not so excited about the super wet conditions.
“I started in P2, with the BMW Junior car, the other car in our team, starting right in front of me so we were looking good for us two to stay out front together – not necessarily to work together but don’t do anything stupid either.
“The start was a bit crazy. For some reason our group was quite spread out so by the time I got to the final corner the leading GT3s had already gone so it was pretty much flat out from the last corner onwards, the first couple of laps on the GP loop cars were everywhere. To be honest I didn’t know which cars I overtook and which cars I didn’t but I think during the GP loop I overtook into the lead of our class, so I was happy about that.
“I managed to keep the lead and pull a bit of a gap after two laps, but from then it was the same story as in the DTM Trophy. The BMW unfortunately doesn’t quite handle its rears in the wet too well, so I was struggling for traction. The Mercedes and the Aston Martin, both the other cars in our class, they caught up and in the mirrors I thought they might be GT3s at the rate they were catching me and then they just drove off like I was stood still, so that was not so fun.
“In terms of our car and our pace, I was happy now our two Am drivers will complete their stints before it gets really dark and then me and Sami will be back out for the first of the night stints when it gets darker.”
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