Nürburgring 24 Hours driver report: Marek Böckmann – Restart to victory

Marek Böckmann is going for a three-year winning streak in class this year, having won the SP10/GT4 class of the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2019 with Black Falcon and again last year in SP-PRO. Having changed teams to SchnitzelAlm Racing for 2021, if the team’s VLN Nürburgring Endurance Series performances in the past months are any indication, that uninterrupted winning streak is a very real possibility for Marek, who shares the #34 SchnitzelAlm Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 with Marcel Marchewicz, Reinhold Renger and Tim Neuser.

With a 25th place overall finish, Marek won the 24-hours in the SP10/GT4 class and even more impressively, finished first of the non-GT3 or GTX cars.

NÜRBURGRING 24 HOURS: ENTRY LIST | LIVESTREAM | NEWS | VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

FRIDAY: LARS KERN | BEN TUCK | ADAM CHRISTODOULOU | THOMAS KIEFER | MAREK BÖCKMANN

RACE | SATURDAY: BEN TUCK | MAREK BÖCKMANN | ADAM CHRISTODOULOU | THOMAS KIEFER

SUNDAY: BEN TUCK | ADAM CHRISTODOULOU | MAREK BÖCKMANN

Marek Böckmann: “I’m a bit late with my report because I had to do a lot of homework for university, all the things I couldn’t do last week – a lot of mathematics and physics, but now I’m almost done! I’m getting grades for it this semester and have a deadline so had to have it done by today.

“I still don’t really know what to say. In my eyes, it was the best race weekend I ever had, I drove my personal best stints and my longest stint – it was just amazing.

“It was so tight until the last lap. Until the last half of the lap I didn’t know if we had a chance to win or not. I asked how long to go, where we’re at, do we have to go until the line? The team told me to bring it home safely; we have 30 seconds to the next car, just don’t crash. It was the hardest last lap of my life because you drive for three hours straight, on the edge, and go as fast as possible. The hardest part is finishing the race knowing that you have the chance to win.

“It was a great team effort. Everybody put so much work into preparing the car, all the testing in the previous races, all the data we collected and had to analyse, all the drivers and mechanics and everyone was involved. They all took a big part of the victory because without all the guys and girls we couldn’t have done it.

“I am so happy to be in this team. Everything started so spontaneous at the start of this year and I’m so happy that it happened, like how everything happened now. We grew so much as a team, as a unit, and everybody did a fabulous job all weekend long and the weeks and months before. I can’t even image how much work it was preparing the cars and everything.

“This may have been the greatest victory for SchnitzelAlm. It was the first year they drove the 24-hour race with a GT4 car and won in the first year. That shows a lot about the team and how much passion everybody puts into it – everyone who’s part of the team lives motorsports and lives for it.

“We will achieve more in the next months and years, I think there is still a lot more to come. The team is still growing. As I already said, I’m really happy to be a part of the team and quite excited for the future. We will see what will happen in the next races.

“Now that I’ve had some time to relax after the race and get fit again, I’m motivated to get back on track again – I’m ready to drive again and can’t wait for the next one!”

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