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(April 12th-14th) Last weekend, the Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing team participated in the two rounds of the 24h Qualifiers, which are also part of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie this year, as final preparation for the big 24h race at the Nürburgring. The "Girls Only" project in particular achieved great success with two podium results. However, the drivers in the production-based cars also did remarkably well.
With four endurance races in eight days, the 2024 endurance season on the Nürburgring Nordschleife got off to a more intense start than ever before. After the exhausting doubleheader of the NLS just over a week ago, the next challenging race weekend was now on the programme with the 24h Qualifiers. With two qualifying sessions, top qualifying sessions and four-hour races, the weekend's schedule was full to bursting. The Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing team entered four BMW race cars in order to prepare as best as possible for the season highlight - the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring.
The BMW M4 GT4 with the starting number 146 of the "Girls Only - Ready to rock the Green Hell" project was driven this weekend by the three regular drivers Carrie Schreiner, Fabienne Wohlwendt and Beitske Visser. Although the car was still suffering from a few technical problems, all three drivers performed impressively. The crew of technicians also gave their all and sometimes worked until the early hours of the morning to sort out the problems. Their efforts were rewarded with third place on Saturday and a hard-fought second place on Sunday, two outstanding podium results that have the team looking very confidently towards the season highlight, the 24-hour race at the beginning of June.
The sister car with the #147 was driven by veteran Ulrich Schmidt and Oliver Wenzel, for whom it was the first start in a GT4 car on the Nordschleife. Starting driver Schmidt was hit by an SP9 car during the start phase on Saturday through no fault of his own and had to park the car damaged on the track. Unfortunately, it took a disproportionately long time to tow the car back in so that the team was only able to complete a few installation laps after the repairs and did not finish in the classification. Things went much better on Sunday and both drivers were able to gain further valuable experience with a finish.
In the production-based VT2-R+4WD class, WS Racing again entered two BMW 330i cars. The car with start number 502 was driven by Maximilian Eisberg, Lorenz Stegmann and Gregoire Boutonnet on Saturday. After a great performance in the inferior BMW, a technical defect slowed the trio down while they were in third place, meaning that only ninth place in class was possible after the necessary repair break. On Sunday, the three drivers were able to compete for the podium for a long time with strong performances and finished in fourth place.
The #506 car - also a BMW 330i - was driven by Lukas Drost, Joe Bohnes and Julian Reeh on Saturday, while Bernd Küpper took over from Julian Reeh on Sunday. The main aim here was to keep out of all the battles with a solid performance in order to gain as much driving practice and experience as possible. All the riders succeeded in doing this.
However, the Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing team cannot rest now after the exhausting weekends. After the two double headers, the final preparation phase for the 24-hour race is on the agenda. All the cars have to be dismantled and overhauled in the WS Racing workshops. In addition, the first races of the Special Touring Car Trophy STT, in which the team will take part with both BMW M4 GT4s, await at the beginning of May.
Thorsten Willems, Team Principal: "These two full race weekends in quick succession were very demanding for us as a team. However, I am very proud of the entire team for mastering all the challenges with full commitment as always! Our Giti tires have once again shown that they can absolutely keep up with the front runners and our partner ZF Motorsport has also done a perfect job in terms of the chassis. Now, of course, we are looking towards the highlight of the season - the 24-hour race. We will be there again with a very large line-up and a clear presence. Together with our guests and our partners, we are looking forward to a fantastic motorsport highlight. We are well prepared!"
Nicole Willems, "Girls Only" team manager: "What the girls deliver every weekend under the most difficult conditions is simply amazing! The whole squad is now absolutely professional and that makes me very proud. We had great duels on the track, which were tough but again characterized by a high level of respect and fairness. That really makes motorsport fun. With the two podium results, we have also shown that we are among the favorites in the very demanding GT4 environment and are looking forward all the more to the 24-hour race in five weeks' time."
