14/01/2020
HRT Performance 24h Dubai 2020!
Well, that 24h Dubai 2020 was a real Adventure! We ended up on P4. A Red flag, because of heavy rain, stopped the race after 7h and a restart was not possible.
We started with the two private test sessions on Wednesday. We followed our plan, System checks, all drivers adapted to the car, little setup Adjustments, everthing ws going fine. In the end of the day we analysed the Drivers data to help them to improve and prepared for the next day.
On Thursday during free practice, all drivers improved and did a good Job. Nobody did mistakes, just how you want a 24h event to go. In the Qualifying our Youngster Leon Köhler put the car on P3 with a great lap of 2:02,9. Good Job considering that he never drove an ABS car, only did 6 laps in the test and had only one new set of tires for Qualifying. During night practice every Driver did his mandatory 2 timed laps, we adjusted the extra Lights and finished the session to prepare the car for the race.
We were really confident for the Race as we had a great average pace in our Drivers line up, all Drivers had the Right mindset for an Endurance race and everything was going perfect so far. Hans Holmlund took the start and handed the car over to Tommy Graberg after a great first stint without any mistakes and a good pace. Tommy continued the work in the same way and gave the car to Erik Behrens. Erik, who was new to the car, had propably the most difficult stint. A few laps after he started his stint, the first rain shower arrived. The Team talked to Erik on the Radio about the track conditions and decided to stay on Slick tires while nearly everybody else changed to wets. In the first few laps we lost some time but Erik was very disciplinated and kept the car on track in these hard conditions. Quite soon the racing line was dry and things changed. Erik was now by far the fastest Cup Porsche on track while everybody else had to Change back to Slicks. When the second rain shower arrived, he handed the car over to Holger Harmsen in P2, close behind the leader of the class. Holger had to handle the very tricky conditions on a by that point already partly flooded track. The rain and track conditions became worse and worse, just after we stopped for Drivers Change and refueling the race was stopped with the red flag. That was really the worst timing for the red flag for us and we dropped back to P4. We knew the longer the race would be, the better we could gain positions with the great average pace of our Drivers line up. Anyhow the Restart of the race never came.
On one side we are very dissapointed that the Red flag stole our chance for a Podium as we had all it takes to be on the Top 3 steps. But on the other side we are very proud of our Drivers who not only had a good pace with a realistic chance for the Podium, but more important the right mindset which is needed to finish such an Endurance race without mistakes and fight for the win. They didn´t put a single scratch in the car and received no Penalty! Big respect to our 2 German Driver Holger and Leon as well as for our 3 Swedish Vikings Hans, Tommy and Erik. Special Thanks to our Team from HRT Performance! We are propably the Team with the youngest average age in the grid but everyone did a perfect Job! Everything was on Point, preparation, the car, the Setup, the pit stops, strategy and of course also the Drivers Performance! It´s a real shame that we couldn´t Show what we are capable to do, but the weather is something that nobody can affect. We are proud to call this amazing group of people our Team and we are looking forward to a great future with you guys.
