Last weekend marked the second round of the VLN long-distance championship for the AMG-Team HTP Motorsport. The team entered the highly-competitive SP9-Class with two Mercedes-AMG GT3. The four-hour race offered the best conditions for collecting important information in preparation for the 24h-race.

Both race cars qualified in the Top-20 starting grid: The #16 Mercedes-AMG GT3 with drivers Marco Seefried (GER), Christian Vietoris (GER), Christian Hohenadel (GER) and Maximilian Buhk (GER) set the eighth-best lap time, with the sister car #26 with Dominik Baumann (A), Thomas Jäger (GER), Maximilian Buhk (GER) and Stefan Mücke (GER) qualified in P20.

The race offered the best conditions for different tests thanks to changing track conditions. Hohenadel had a good start into the race, running in P3 after a few corners. After the first completed lap, the track was ready for slick tyres and the team called the #16 for a quick tyre change into the pits. After an hour, rain started to drop once again, but Hohenadel stayed in the car for a double-stint following another tyre change.

Bad luck suffered the #26 Mercedes-AMG GT3: After an accident occurred in the area of Aremberg, the #26 ran over some debris, damaging the tyre and resulting in a puncture. The team changed the tyre at the track and Dominik Baumann was able to drive the car back into the pits. Due to a long stop, the gap to the front had grown, but the team used the remaining laps to gain some important data.