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Muennich Motorsport on positions two and three in Slovakia

Marc Basseng

Marc Basseng

SRO

The German Team ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport on positions two and three at the GT1 World in Slovakia – Team lead held – Basseng/Winkelhock second at drivers ranking

Marc Basseng
Marc Basseng

Photo by: SRO

Friedersdorf/Slovakia Ring (rol/ot) The German Team ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport from Friedersdorf started into the second season half of the FIA GT1 World Championships with positions two and three this weekend (17th to 19th of August) on the Slovakia Ring. Marc Basseng (Neusalza-Spremberg) and Markus Winkelhock (Berglen-Steinach) in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 with starting number 38 have been on three at the Qualifying Race on Saturday (18th of August) ahead their team colleagues of the racing stable from Saxony, Nicky Pastorelli (Italy/Netherlands) and Thomas Jäger (Munich) in the sister car with starting number 37. At the one hour Championship Race on Sunday (19th of August), Basseng/Winkelhock finished on second position and Pastorelli/Jäger could get a few points at least finishing on eight.

That way the Team ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport held the lead at the team rankings. The racing stable of the team principal and owner René Münnich is now 19 points ahead Vita4one Racing, whose drivers Michael Bartels (Germany) and Yelmer Buurman (Netherlands) in the BMW E89 Z4 (#18) won both races in Slovakia. These two are on first position at the drivers ranking with 16 points ahead Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock after the sixth season event with the races 11 and 12. Nicky Pastorelli and Thomas Jäger held overall rank four.

"We changed our strategy and setup and focused on a good result at the Qualifying. That turned out quite good, because we finished second“, Marc Basseng explained, who is the Team Manager of the Münnich racing stable as well. The sister car #37 finished the Qualifying on eight. These good starting positions paid out for the two Münnich-Mercedes at the Qualifying Race, where they got more drive and they could gather important points on position three and four. Certainly, the two BMW Z4 were not to catch, although Basseng and Pastorelli were on positions two and three behind the #18 after great pit stops. After about 37 minutes, Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof/Mathias Lauda (both Austria) in the BMW #17 caught the Mercedes #37 and after about 48 minutes the #38 as well.

Something similar to that happened at the Championship Race on Sunday. Marc Basseng has been on position two after a good start, but after 15 minutes he fell back to position four – the BMW #17 crashed into his car. „I had luck, my car didn’t spin“, Basseng told. After a great pit stop, Markus Winkelhock has been on position three, which he could keep until 7 minutes before the end of the race. Nicky Pastorelli, who lost a few positions with his damaged front splitter after a crash at start, assigned the car to Thomas Jäger on eight, who finished on that position in the end. But during the last few minutes before the end of the race a lot happened on the 5,922 Kilometre long track that had its GT1 World premiere at the beginning of June. At the 53rd racing minute there was a five minute Safety-Car-Phase because of car parts on track. After the re-start that herald the last lap, Markus Winkelhock surprised Mathias Lauda in the BMW #17 with an overtaking maneuver from the outside and secured the second position.

"I am very proud of Markus and his brave move to the second position“, Marc Basseng said. And Markus Winkelhock added: „Of course that was very chancy, but it worked. Our car was good and we could gather a lot of points.“ The Team ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport was very satisfied at last. „Certainly something has to change at the Balance of Performance on the cars until the next race on the first weekend in September near Moscow, because the BMW race cars have been too strong for the whole field in Slovakia.“, Team Manager Basseng said.

Source: Muennich Motorsport

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