The starting grid of 70 cars has shown the spectators a thrilling race with great battles. The result for the team and their drivers was the 6th place of class A6 – 14th place overall.
The four drivers, who piloted the fast GT3 car, came from 3 continents: Liam Talbot from Australia, Jean-Charles Perrin (Axion driver) from Canada, Mikko Eskelinen from Finland and the Swiss driver Fredy Barth.
Already at the free practice on Friday the Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3 #6 had set the fastest lap time of the grid. In the following qualifying session the team climbed into the 4th starting place for the race – good grid position from the 2nd row.
Special feature: The qualifying had to be stopped prematurely because of a violent thunderstorm with hail and strong wind. After these terrible weather caprioles with fist-sized hail grains the paddock was a dreadful disaster. Many tents and equipment parts were broken and all private- and rental cars in the paddock had strong hail damage. The teams had to clear up a lot.
At Saturday the race started by sunny weather and 28° C on time at 12 o’clock.
The Lamborghini #6 with Fredy Barth as starting driver could hold his position after the race start. During the first 3 hours the car was constantly in the top 3 and leaded the race from lap 42 to 51. Around 7pm the current driver reported a problem: The car stopped at the track and had to be towed away. Unfortunately the recovery vehicle needed a lot of time – car #6 came into the pits with nearly 35 laps delay. The staff had found the reason of the failure quickly: A switch valve was defective. A short time later the car was on the track again.
The second longer pit stop came at 3.30am – the team had to fix an issue with the ABS system.
But nevertheless: Team and drivers worked hard to make up some positions from place 45 and finished the race in 14th position overall. Also the Lamborghini engine ran strongly and purred like a kitten during the 24h extreme stress. It was perfect work from all involved parties. In summary it was an excellent long distance race which was disturbed through 2 minor problems. It was the 4th finish in a row in an 12 or 24 hour endurance race for the crew of Leipert Motorsport which proofed once again that the Lamborghini is a fast and reliable endurance racecar.
Team owner Ingo Leipert: It was very pleasant to work with Liam, Jean-Charles, Fredy and Mikko. We had a lot of fun working together in a very professional , but also smooth, manner. Between the drivers and the crew everything went harmoniously and I am proud of that great teamwork! Despite of more than 30 hours on the legs it was a pleasure work time. Now we are looking forward to the next 12h endurance race with Promoter Creventic at Hungary, 03.-04. October 2014.
The upcoming race for the team is the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo race at Nürburgring (20.-21. September) with two Lamborghini Super Trofeo cars.