NEWS
Historic Double Win for FALKEN
Sep 06, 2018
FALKEN celebrates a spectacular double win at the Nürburgring. Martin Ragginger and Klaus Bachler dominate the 41st RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen and win for the first time in the Porsche 911 GT3 R, ahead of their Falken team colleagues Stef Dusseldorp and Alexandre Imperatori in the BMW M6 GT3.
September 1, 2018 will go down in the annals of Falken Motorsports. Already during qualifying of the sixth run of the 2018 VLN Endurance Championship, the Falken duo excelled with an outstanding performance, earning themselves second and third starting positions. In doing so, the Austrian driver duo consisting of Klaus Bachler and Martin Ragginger in the Porsche 911 GT3 R enjoyed an exceptional premiere: requiring just 7:57.850 minutes to complete the Nordschleife, the Falken Porsche did so for the first time ever in less than eight minutes. And at 7:58.081 minutes, the BMW team comprising Stef Dusseldorp (NL) and Alexandre Imperatori (CH) was in no less of a hurry, securing the starting position directly behind their team colleagues.
The 4-hour contest started under ideal racing conditions with a sunny 15° C. In the first curve, the two Falken racing cars took the lead which they clung to until the first pit stops. During this initial phase, Klaus Bachler at the wheel of the Porsche GT3 R stunned with a breathtaking velocity, burning yet another 7:56.259 minute lap record into the asphalt.
As the race progressed, a neck-and-neck contest unfolded between Audi, BMW and Porsche for the lead position, in which shrewd tyre management ultimately emerged as the key: thanks to its perfectly timed tire changes, Falken could principally keep its competitors at bay, letting it lead the race from the head of the field.
While the Bachler/Ragginger and Dusseldorp/Imperatori driver duos completed the last laps of the Nordschleife with cold-blooded precision and remarkable consistency, the mood in the Falken pits swung from nervous anticipation to unbridled elation.
On crossing the finishing line, the first double win in Falken’s almost 20 years of participation in the VLN racing community was under lock and key: Klaus Bachler and Martin Ragginger in the Porsche 911 GT3 R and BMW drivers Stef Dusseldorp and Alexandre Imperatori in their M6 GT3 handed the team a truly unsurpassable result – 1st and 2nd places for FALKEN Motorsports!
