GetSpeed Performance dominated the 59. ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen to take its very first VLN race win. The #2 Mercedes-AMG GT3 with drivers Dominik Baumann and Fabian Schiller behind the wheel finished the race with a 42.494-second gap to second place despite having to serve a stop-and-go penalty.

GALLERY

Race day started off well for the local race team with a front row lockout in qualifying. Fabian Schiller, on double duty this weekend, placed the #23 AMG on pole position alongside his co-driver in the #2 sister car Dominik Baumann.

Starting the race in wet conditions, the two GetSpeed AMGs where the fastest cars on track and disappeared into the distance. Steve Jans in the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 GT3 was the only one able to keep up with Schiller and Baumann, sticking around for the opening laps.

As the track began to dry towards the end of the first stint, Jody Fannin in the #34 Walkenhorst BMW M6 GT3 wich he shared with Nick Catsburg and David Pittard, was the fastest man on track and made up a lot positions after starting from tenth on the grid.

In the first round of pitstops the GetSpeed cars switched to intermediate tyres while Nick Catsburg in the Walkenhorst BMW was sent out on slick Yokohama tyres. While that looked like the right choice at the time, rain returned not much later, forcing Catsburg to come in again for rain tyres. However, he made up the lost time and climbed up to third place again.

About a minute behind Baumann in the GetSpeed AMG the HTP Motorsport-ran #43 Team MannFilter Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Edoardo Mortara, Lance David Arnold and Tim Scheerbarth ran in second place in front of the Walkenhorst BMW. Scheerbarth, a Black Falcon regular racing the Mercedes-AMG GT4, returned to GT3 racing on the Nordschleife for the first time since 2015 when he raced the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.

As Baumann handed over the car to Fabian Schiller, the Vodefone-coloured AMG picked up a stop-and-go penalty as their stop was under the required minimum pitstop time. Even with the penalty and a short trip through the grass at Adenauer Forst, Schiller brought home the car in first place securing the first-ever overall VLN victory for GetSpeed Performance.

Lance David Arnold finished the race in the #43 MannFilter AMG safely in second position. For Tim Scheerbarth the podium finish meant his first visit to the VLN podium to pick up an outright trophy.

Coming home in third was David Pittard with the #34 Walkenhorst BMW. It wasn’t completely smooth sailing for the Brit: Problems with the gas pedal of his M6 after the pitstop required him to reset the car on the Grand Prix course.

Falken Motorsports’ #3 BMW M6 GT3 of Peter Dumbreck and Stef Dusseldorp missed out on a podium by 72 seconds, while Steve Jans and Vincent Kolb finished fifth in the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3.