On 12th and 13th May Nico Verdonck will be competing in his fifth 24 Hours of the Nürburgring. Representing the Dörr Motorsport formation, the Belgian together with his German teammates Marc Basseng and Manuel Lauck this last Sunday brilliantly finalised their preparation. During the qualifying race for the 24 Hours they offered their Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo – shod with Giti Tire rubbers– victory in the SP8 class and a well-deserved 17th place in the overall classification.

“And yet the weekend had started off badly”, the 32-year old Brussels based driver explained. “On Saturday we experienced technical issues which prevented us from putting in a good performance during the qualifying runs. As such we set-off from 41st place on the grid on Sunday.”

During six long hours the splendid Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo ran like clockwork and the trio of drivers very quickly climbed up in the rankings. “This victory in the SP8 category, coupled to an excellent top 20 in the overall classification, is an outstanding reward for the Dörr Motorsport team, who all worked extremely hard on the Saturday”, Nico smiled. “We also need to include the Giti Tire engineers! They are continuously developing their tyres to make them as performing as possible on the Nordschleife, probably the world’s most demanding circuit when it comes to tyres and where, as we know, the weather conditions and temperatures can very quickly change. For that matter as a driver I must say that the experience I am accruing in this close-up work with the engineers is highly enriching.”

With less than four weeks to the greatest endurance race in the world, Nico Verdonck is ready. “Together with the entire team we have evolved a fair amount during these two beginning of the season races,” the lap record holder in one of the VLN races continued. “We have made a great step forward in all fields. Our Lamborghini Hurácan Super Trofeo Evo even though, logically less performing than a GT3, has perfectly evolved in the field of the suspension set-up and is a pleasure to drive on the Nordschleife. And everyone knows that a 24 Hours race is always a challenge, particularly on the Nürburgring. But I cannot wait to be at the start on Saturday 12th May!”

Whilst preparing for the classic on the Eifel, Nico continues to work on various projects with a view to being at the start of the 24 Hours of Spa and the 24 Hours of Zolder…..amongst others!

Source. Nico Verdonck