No overtaking on the North Loop?

Has there been an overtaking ban on the North Loop since Saturday? – The Land-Motorsport drivers, Marc Basseng and Frank Stippler, almost believe it - their Land Porsche was rudely kicked out of the race during an overtaking manoeuvre. And after the racing weekend had again started out so promisingly:

After a late training start due to fog, Marc Basseng calmly brought the Land-Porsche to P4. While Uwe Alzen was craving a new record, the Manthey Porsche positioned itself on P2 and the Aston Martin unit was pleased about P3.

Just a brief vehicle check and the race was started at 2.55 pm; the race time was shortened to 3 hours. There was some swift re-calculating - after all, strategy could be decisive here for victory. "Keep your position at the start" was the order from the team boss to Marc Basseng. Position in Lap 4: Alzen, Aston Martin, Basseng at P3 lies mere seconds behind the Aston Martin. Uwe Alzen was „up and away" – the Manthey-RSR, however, was already 30 seconds behind. The strategists in the Land camp knew that Alzen and Aston Martin can be cracked through fuel consumption – but it was a hard fight against the Manthey-Porsche. After 6 laps, Marc Basseng already took over P2. Alzen and Land-Motorsport took a scheduled pit stop after 8 laps. Basseng out – Stippler in, and out of the pit again 25 seconds behind Alzen. In lap13, Frank Stippler radioed: „Cannot pass Alzen. Jürgen has spread himself out and is simply accelerating in the straights. We have to get past Alzen in the pit. – OK. Change tactics – Finish off Basseng – re-calculate and get Stippler in -."

But once again, Marc Basseng didn't reach his second stint. "When I tried to overtake again, Jürgen Alzen suddenly pulled to the left“, said Frank Stippler, „which led to a collision and my departure from the race."

Team chief Wolfgang Land is just asking himself: why is it not possible to pass a colleague fairly who is almost 10 seconds per lap faster and conduct clean motor sport? We could have won: the car was perfect, the drivers in top form and the mechanics carried out a fantastic pit stop - which was regrettably not repeated.

The AEZ-sponsored Land team will once again be showing its skill on the North Loop on Saturday, 25th October and Sunday, 9th November.
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