Champions Pommer/Hauser win again at the Nürburgring

• Four win of this season’s Prototype Cup Germany for Racing Experience
• Nigel Moore and de Oliveira/Marschalkowski join them on the podium
• Trophy triumph for guest starter Klaus Abbelen

Nürburg. Gary Hauser (31/LUX) and Markus Pommer (32/Untereisesheim, both Racing Experience) are the dominant force in the 2023 season of the Prototype Cup Germany. The Duqueine pairing had wrapped up the Drivers title last time out in Assen. Spurred on by that success, Hauser and Pommer have now also won the Saturday race at the Nürburgring. This was their fourth race win of the year. In a thrilling and spectacular race, second place went to Nigel Moore (31/GBR, Aust Motorsport), who started alone in his Ligier JS P320. Fellow Ligier drivers Jan Marschalkowski (20/Inning am Ammersee) and Guilherme de Oliveira (18/PRT, both MRS GT-Racing) completed the podium.

Markus Pommer started the race from pole position. However, the former ADAC GT Masters driver braked too late for turn one, which allowed Felipe Laser (34/Leipzig) to take the lead in the Frikadelli Racing Ligier. The man of the opening lap was without doubt Aust driver Moore, who cut through to fourth place from eleventh on the grid to slot in behind the Ligier of Guilherme de Oliveira from MRS GT-Racing.

As the race progressed, Laser and Pommer were embroiled in an entertaining battle at the head of the field. However, Laser did manage to open a small lead by the time he came in for the obligatory pit stop. De Oliveira and Moore also maintained their positions in the first part of the race. Moore, however, came in as early as possible for his stop, which ultimately put him in front of de Oliveira’s team-mate Jan Marschalkowski. Laser’s partner Klaus Abbelen (63/Barweiler) initially held the lead at the start of the second half of the race. However, the local favourite was unable to match the blistering pace of the front-runners, and eventually ended the race in 11th place. He could, however, take consolation from the fact that this was good enough to earn victory in the Trophy competition.

This left the door open for Gary Hauser, who had taken over from Markus Pommer at the wheel of the Racing Experience Duqueine, to take the lead and ultimately the race win. Behind him, Moore and the charging ADAC Stiftung Sport driver Marschalkowski produced an exciting battle, to the delight of the many spectators at the circuit. Eventually, however, Marschalkowski was unable to find any way past the Briton. De Oliveira/Marschalkowski were then handed a five-second penalty for crossing a white line, but managed to hold on to third place and also triumphed in the Junior competition.

Fourth place went to Oscar Tunjo (27/COL) and Julien Apothéloz (22/CHE, both Van Ommen Racing by DataLab) in another Duqueine, ahead of fellow Duqueine drivers Gustavo Kyrila (29/BRA) and Nico Göhler (20/Grasleben, both BWT Mücke Motorsport). Duqueine-Pilot Xavier Lloveras (23/ESP, Mühlner Motorsport), another Duqueine racer, ended the race in sixth place after a drive-through penalty. In seventh place were Valentino Catalano (17/Westheim) and Robin Rogalski (23/POL, both DKR Engineering-Duqueine). Rounding out the top ten were Sebastian von Gartzen (30/Butzbach) and Maximilian Hackländer (33/Rüthen, both Konrad Motorsport) in a Ginetta G61-LT-P3.

Markus Pommer – winner for Racing Experience
“It has been a perfect weekend so far. I was blinded by the sun a little at the start, which meant I could not really see the lights and did not get away well. I wanted to brake as late as possible into turn one, to avoid anyone hitting me from behind. As a result, I lost the lead. I was then really fast, but being behind another car meant the brakes were overheating a little. As such, I decided to ease off a bit and save the tyres for Gary. He finished the race off superbly. We are delighted with the win.”

Gary Hauser – winner for Racing Experience
“I was soon able to overtake Klaus Abbelen, who fairly made room for me. After that, I just put my foot down, as I knew that it is very tough to overtake here at the Nürburgring. It was clear to me that nobody would get past, unless I made a mistake. However, we will not do anything major to celebrate the win today, as we still have race two at the Nürburgring tomorrow – and the alarm clock is bound to sound before seven o’clock. We’ll make up for that with the celebrations on Sunday evening.”

Nigel Moore – second place for Aust Motorsport
“We have a new engineer this weekend, so that result is obviously excellent. The start was just incredible, as I was able to make up seven positions. After that, I just wanted to bring the car home. I did attack the Duqueine just in front of me in the second section, but did not want to take any risks, as we are not in the title race. It was a super race. The team did a sensational job.”