Fischer & Mayer, Theis & Bell with another double podium

The 2020 iRacing Nürburgring Endurance Championship season continues to be a huge success for Fischer Motorsport. Manuel Mayer and Benjamin Fischer, driving the team's premier entry, the No. 84 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, earned second place honors in the CUP class, while Pascal Theis and Julian Bell drove the team's No. 85 Porsche Cayman to a third place in the GT4 class.

Both results continue a quite positive trend for the team, after both teams earned podium finishes in the season's opening two rounds.

Fischer took starting duty in the No. 84 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup on Sunday and had his hands full in the opening stint. In a very hard fought and entertaining opening hour of the race, the Leipzig, Germany driver moved from a sixth place on the starting grid all the way to fourth position. After the team completed its first pit stop of the day and changed tires also, Fischer immediately continued with his second stint, that saw Fischer continue to climb the scoring tower all the way to second place.

The race's start was no less busy for Pascal Theis and the No. 85 Porsche Cayman team. Right away on lap one, Theis had to avoid the slow No. 993 Porsche Cayman of Rebellion Racing at the track section of Adenauer Forst. During the incident, Theis had to drive into the gras and lost a couple of positions. Only two laps later the Frankfurt, Germany driver lost control over his car at 'Flugplatz'. The rear lost grip and spun around and only thanks to a great reflex and display of car control by the 26-year old severe damage to the car could be avoided. Still, Theis' car made contact with the barriers.

"I didn't get the racing line right heading into Flugplatz. And after that I couldn't slow down fast enough. I'm grateful that nothing worse happened. When it happened, my first thought was 'That's it. We're done.'", Theis said later, about the incident.

Benjamin Fischer handed over the steering wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to team-mate Manuel Mayer. The Teisendorf, Germany driver impressed team-mates and fans alike recently with an incredible pace around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, especially in last weekend's iRacing Nürburgring 24 Hours, that the team finished in second place.

So it was to very little surprise, to see Mayer on Sunday, logging fast lap after fast lap and solidifying second position for the No. 84 Porsche team. At the end, the 32-year old crossed the finish line without ever getting lapped by cars of the GT3 class - a first for the team, showing the very good pace of the drivers duo of the day.

Julian Bell took over the seat in the No. 85 Porsche Cayman GT4 for the middle portion of the race and quickly had to overcome a big scare, when the No. 51 Porsche Cayman of Nein Shiza Autosport lost control at Aremberg, slid over the gras and bounced over the curb back onto the race track. But Bell kept a cool head and moved on quickly from the scene without losing time.

Only few laps later however, the Canadian had to show mental strength once again in a scary situation. At the high-speed section of "Stefan-Bellof-S", the No. 993 Porsche Cayman of Rebellion Racing once again found itself in trouble and crashed. When Bell arrived at the scene, he reacted quickly while also letting cars of the faster CUP- and GT3 class pass, who pushed aggressively.

"Yeah, you might imagine what that was like for me. I knew I had a faster car beside and right behind me. And then I'm coming through there and see that Cayman crash into the barrier and bounce back onto the track. I honestly expected the worst. But fortunately we got through fine and nothing happened. Still, you don't get old living through this type of stuff all too often, I can tell you that.", Bell commented on his race.

After Bell completed the team's final pit stop of the day, Pascal Theis took over and completed the final eight laps of the race. The German showed increasingly strong pace and eventually crossed the finish line in third place, earning the GT4 team its third podium in the third race of the season.

"Porsche has done an amazing job. The Cayman is so much fun to drive. And on top of that, we had the perfect setup today. But honestly, I didn't think it was possible to get third place, after my early spin. But that speaks to the team. These guys never give up. If we can eliminate those errors early in these races, I hope we can win one of those races sooner than later.", Theis said towards journalists.

The iRacing Nürburgring Endurance Championship is entering a six-week break now, before returning to action on June 14th with Round 4.