The home race of SSR Performance had a lot of action. At the race on Saturday, Dennis Olsen (NOR) secured his first podium of the season. Laurens Vanthoor (BEL) followed on fourth place. The #94 also made it into the top 5 on Sunday.
Race 1
After the free practice sessions on a wet track looked promising for the Porsche, the anticipation for the first two-part qualifying at the Norisring was high on Saturday. The field was close together and left a lot of room for improvement. As in previous years, things got tight in the first corner of the street circuit. Exciting overtaking maneuvers, countless retirements and long safety car phases characterized the event. Both SSR Performance pilots managed to stay away from serious incidents and crossed the finish line on second and fourth place. The first podium for SSR Performance and Norwegian Dennis Olsen brought relief to the Munich team. Motivated by this success, the second race on the 2.3 kilometer track started on Sunday.
Race 2
With 15 kg of success ballast in their luggage, the green Porsche 911 GT3 R went into the second race at the Norisring. After the many collisions on the previous day, all 25 participants managed to drive safely through the first corner on Sunday. Dennis Olsen started the race from eighth place and was able to make up a few positions right from the start. The Norwegian crossed the finish line on fifth place and was the strongest Porsche. Laurens Vanthoor was moved to the back of the grid due to a penalty and fought his way up to 16th.
The first podium for SSR Performance marked the end of the first half of the DTM season. The next race weekend will take place from August 26th to 28th at the Nürburgring, Germany. There, SSR Performance would like to take the momentum from the street circuit into the last four events.
Mario Schuhbauer, Team Principal SSR Performance
“I am very happy with the team. With 40 collected points in our luggage, we are highly motivated for the Nürburgring after the summer break.”
Maike Frik, Team Manager SSR Performance
“The Norisring is sort of the home race for SSR – that’s why it’s all the better that we were able to claim our first podium in the DTM after a chaotic race on Saturday. Overall, with 40 points this race weekend, we can go into the summer break in a positive mood and hopefully continue here at the Nürburgring at the end of August.”
Laurens Vanthoor, #92 driver SSR Performance
“I think the weekend was very important for the team’s motivation and scoring. I hope that we can improve the performance in the second half of the season and I’m looking forward to the Nürburgring.”
Dennis Olsen, #94 driver SSR Performance
“That was the most positive weekend of the season so far. Of course, I was very happy with second place. I’m happy for the whole team because we’ve worked hard and now we’re finally seeing the reward for it. Another top 5 result on Sunday was a great finish to the event. Hopefully we can continue the performance at the Nürburgring.”
Results 1st race DTM Norisring 1. #24 Thomas Preining // KÜS Team Bernhard // Porsche
2. #94 Dennis Olsen // SSR Performance // Porsche
3. #33 Rene Rast // Team Abt // Audi
4. #92 Laurens Vanthoor // SSR Performance // Porsche
Results 2nd race DTM Norisring 1. #74 Felipe Fraga // Red Bull Alphatauri AF Corse // Ferrari
2. #63 Mirko Bortolotti // GRT // Lamborghini
3. #33 Rene Rast // Team Abt // Audi
5. #94 Dennis Olsen // SSR Performance // Porsche
16. #92 Laurens Vanthoor // SSR Performance // Porsche
Team classification after the fourth DTM weekend: 1. Schubert Motorsport // 111 points
2. GRT // 87 points
3. Abt Sportsline // 81 points
6. SSR Performance // 70 points
Driver ranking after the fourth DTM weekend: 1. Mirko Bortolotti // 89 points
2. Sheldon van der Linde // 80 points
3. René Rast // 79 points
12. Dennis Olsen // 40 points
15. Laurens Vanthoor // 30 points
Source. SSR Performance
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