Pedersen, Fischer open NEC Season with solid sixth place

In the team’s first start of the 2022 NEC season, the No. 84 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup with Niclas Pedersen and Benjamin Fischer earned a solid sixth-place finish on Saturday.

Niclas Pedersen took on Qualifying duties and went on to place the team’s Porsche race car on third place on the starting grid, with a very quick lap of 7:58.610.

„I’m quite happy with starting from row two. Unfortunately I made a mistake in the final chicane on my fastest lap, otherwise I could have squeezed another half second out of it. But it’s alright.“, said Pedersen.

The Aarhus, Denmark native went on to take the race start and kept up quite well with the front runners, before surrendering one position to a hard-charging in-class competitor.

On lap four the 26-year old hit the bump at Spiegelkurve in an awkward way, adding some damage to the right front of the car, that the team was able to repair over the course of the next three pit stops in the race.

For Pedersen, the opening stint was all about getting settled into the race and avoiding the all-too-famiar early-race chaos, that this series is known for. And Pedersen was able to accomplish this, as he entered pit road in third position after completing the first hour of the race.

Electing to go with a rather conservative strategy on the day, the team changed all four tires on all three pit stops in the race. It proved to cost the team a few positions and time, but provided the additional bit of security in difficult conditions, during a very foggy day in the Eifel.

„We decided, it wasn’t worth taking that risk and so we changed tires every pit stop. Could we have gained one or two positions or at least some track position if we had decided to take no tires or two tires? Probably. But for us, today was all about finishing the race and getting as much track time as possible in a new car.“, team manager Benjamin Fischer said.

Fischer eventually took over from Pedersen with about 100 minutes remaining in the race. The Leipzig, Germany driver struggled at first, especially so on the out lap, with snap oversteer in several corners.

The 38-year old narrowly saved the car from crashing with a spectacular power slide and lockup, when the car snapped loose on the exit of Metzgesfeld II. But throughout the race, the German never once crashed, although he wasn’t quite up to pace in his own words.

„My pace wasn’t really what it should have been today. But it feels good to get out of here without a a crash or major mistake. This is a good building block. We’ll work on the setup and get better before the next race.“, Fischer said after he crossed the start/finish line in sixth place, to give the No. 84 Porsche team its first top-ten result in its first season start.

Round 3 of the NEC will take place in three weeks on May 28th.

© 2022 Fischer Motorsport Official Race Results - 2022 iRacing NEC Round 2, Split 2