It could have been a really spectacular debut for Kremer-Racing. The racing team’s self-developed vehicle – the Kremer-Porsche 997 K3, an homage to the successful winner car of the Le Mans 24h in 1979, was received with enthusiasm by many of the fans at the opening round of the VLN endurance racing championship. The attraction of the modified Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the bodywork design of the Kremer-Porsche 935 K3 from the year 1979 was, however, not only based on its design. Wolfgang Kaufmann completed the 24.358 kilometres long combination of the short track version and the Nordschleife in 8:37.317 minutes and thus occupied 35th position on the grid. This was far more than just a respectable achievement, all the more since the group H car even left some of the GT3 racers from classes SP7 and SP9 behind. In the race, the Kremer duo then continued to push hard until generator problems spoiled the team’s successful debut at the Nordschleife.
After the start, Kaufmann had to let his rival in class H1, Ralf Schall and Christopher Gerhard in a conventional Porsche 911 GT3 (type 997), pass for a short while before the powerful Kremer-Porsche caught up again and moved into the lead. Kaufmann also set the fastest race lap in group H with 8:34.148 minutes, thus improving his fantastic practice time by another three seconds. When Braunach took over the steering wheel, he also achieved a personal highlight and his fastest lap ever at the Nordschleife, a clear indication for the precise driveability of the red-white race car.
Yet, after three and a half hours, final driver Wolfgang Kaufmann all of a sudden stopped and had to retire with a broken generator. So crossing the finish line still remains an unfulfilled dream. “We feel that the car is already very sophisticated – even though the testing phase has just only started. We are sure that the car has a lot of potential!”
