Preview: iRacing NEC Round 9
Competing in the GT4 class, Pascal Theis and Julian Bell, together with the No. 85 Porsche Cayman GT4 team hope to hold their fourth place in the standings and by that to draw a positive conclusion on a season that was at times very difficult.
After a strong start to the season and three top-five finishes in the first three races, a string of three consecutive DNF during the summer months for Theis and Bell set the team back significantly.
“The summer stretch was absolutely brutal for us. We had a few crashes, some of them our own fault but also technical problems. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong for us.”, Theis recaptured the season.
Lately, things were looking up for the Porsche Cayman GT4 team, thanks to a fifth and third place finish in the last two races, though the gap will probably be too large to get a podium finish in the final series standings.
This doesn’t diminish the motivation of Theis or Bell, though and the Frankfurt, Germany and Toronto, Canada drivers will look to give it everything one more time in the final race of the season.
The No. 84 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup team with Manuel Mayer and Benjamin Fischer has won two races this year, making 2020 the most successful year for Fischer Motorsport ever.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team. Manuel is the best team-mate one could ever ask for. This was our third year together in the NEC. There’s quite a bit of history there.“, team owner Benjamin Fischer said.
“Pascal and Julian did phenomenal work for us and our GT4 program. It wasn’t always easy, but we’re one big family as a team. We win together, we lose together.“
„If our No. 84 Porsche team can finish the season in third place, this would be an incredible accomplishment for us.”
Closing out the season in third place won’t be easy though. As big as the gap is to the top-two, as close is the gap to the teams in third and fourth position in the standings.
“We will need to give it everything we got. If we can get a top-five finish, it should be good enough. That’s our goal for Sunday.”, Mayer says.
Race start to NEC Round 9 and thus the final race of the season will take place Sunday at 14:45 CET / 8:45 am ET and will go the usual distance of four hours.