Imola – after a year’s interruption, we are guests again at this beautiful racetrack. Due to the heavy rainfall four weeks ago, the Formula 1 race could not take place here, but for us, everything was ready again – Ready to Race.

The first two days of practice went according to our plan and preparation with no big surprises. I improved quite a bit from the first to the last practice session, so I felt good about the race. Imola suits me very well, as it is technically quite demanding and therefore suits me.

The Endurance Quali was promising. I finished P3 in my class and had a good starting position for the Endurance race. The qualifying for the sprint race didn’t go as well as I would have liked. On the one hand On the one hand, I was lucky to have a free lap in the peak window; on the other hand, I had to abort another promising lap and could only set a reasonable time in lap 10. P4 in class, but nothing was lost yet.

Unfortunately, it went south from then on. We tried to start the engine before the race, but nothing worked. The fuel pump failed to work, but the reason must be clarified. We tried various things until we found out that the fuel pump relay was not working. Due to all the manual work and diagnoses under time pressure, it was suddenly unclear how much petrol we had filled up. So we filled up the tank. So I started a sprint race over 14 laps, with 100 liters of petrol! So I was about 60kg heavier than everyone else and had more fuel in the tank at the end than the others at the start! On top of that, we were a few seconds late, and the pit lane had closed before I could get out. So I started last out of the pitlane. And if that wasn’t enough, the pit lane was opened too late at the start of the race. So I chased the field 20 seconds later with new brake pads, cold tires, and a full fuel tank. Ultimately, I finished the race in P7 in my class, which is a good result under the circumstances.

I started the endurance race full of hope and confidence. I was overcautious at the start but within striking distance of my competitors. But somehow, I didn’t quite get up to speed; I also lost some speed, and at some point, I noticed that my car tended to oversteer massively. As it was boiling, the tire temperatures, and tire pressures were high in the afternoon, I looked for the fault in myself even when I had a complete stall – until I could no longer shift into 3rd and 5th gear. Unfortunately, I had to finish the race with gearbox damage – DNF.

Unfortunately, with the damage at the Redbull Ring, the tire problems in Le Castellet, and this race weekend, a possible victory or podium finish in the overall PSCS standings is out of the question. So the task now is to learn and enjoy as much as possible, which is also positive.

Unfortunately, at least for now, this was the last race in the Porsche Basel Racing Team, which I greatly regret. I want to take this opportunity to thank the guys from the Racing Team for their tireless efforts – it was great fun with you, and I learned a lot from you! Keep it flat-out, my friends.