Having started from position 19, the experienced and consistent Falken pilots were able to keep all skirmishes out of their way; nevertheless they managed to keep top speed. As precise as a Swiss watch the turquoise blue Porsche 911 GT3 R was the only Zuffenhausener reaching the top-ten. After eight hours: climbing into the top-five! Thanks to an impressive performance at a constantly high level, this position could be maintained despite the very fast field. In a fierce duel and continuously good weather conditions, the fourth place could be achieved. At the wheel during the final stint: Peter Dumbreck.
An excellent motorsport-success and a great celebration for the fans – on Sunday evening a triumphant 24h-race weekend for Falken was coming to its end. Offering many actions, such as the meanwhile legendary Falken-Drift-Show in the evening before the race, a Bobby-car racing for top-teams and visitors, racing-simulators, and a team to touch, the Japanese tyre manufacturer managed to be firmly rooted in the hearts of the fans, regardless of the performance on the race track. However on facebook more than 120.000 fans regularly accompany the activities, cheer on at the races and catch up on the latest tyre trends. „The fourth place in the most demanding and challenging endurance race of the world is our „Thank you“, to the fans, who have stayed with us, even in years in which we weren’t as lucky as we are now. Without you, we would never have done it“, says Stefanie Olbertz, responsible for Motorsports and Events after the race.
„The car has performed superbly during the entire race and the entire team performed an excellent work together. Even the replacement of the rear left brake body, around four hours before the end of the race, has only taken us a few minutes. It couldn’t be any better”, says Falken-Pilot Wolf Henzler on behalf of his colleagues Martin Ragginger, Peter Dumbreck and Alexandre Imperatori.
„For 24 hours we have been giving our best and are now exhausted, but also very happy of course. The fact that we were able to move up to fourth place, about one and a half hours before the end, was of course, the icing on the cake. What a race”, says team manager Sven Schnabl, getting to the heart of it. „We sincerely congratulate the winning team and are proud to have been part of a race characterized by respect and fairness”.