Pittard in ’Ring breakthrough
Briton David Pittard claimed his maiden win in the NLS – the new name for the
VLN endurance series – last Saturday in one of the first European events to run since coronavirus restrictions were relaxed.
Pittard and former ex-formula 3 European Championship frontrunner Mikkel Jensen triumphed in the four-hour race around the Nurburgring Nordschleife, sharing a Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3.
The duo began the contest fifth and Pittard initially lost out at the start but a swift recovery – including a stunning pass around the outside of Mercedes GT3 superstar Raffaele Marciello at the fast Schwedenkreuz corner – meant he was soon running second.
Pittard and Jensen remained in contention for victory for the remainder of the race, and were aided by a late penalty for Mercedes pair Maro Engel and Patrick Assenheimer. The duo, driving for the newly formed Haupt Racing Team that has replaced the Black Falcon squad among Mercedes’ factory GT roster, took the chequered flag first, but were handed a 37-second penalty for not spending enough time in the pits, allowing Pittard and Jensen to triumph.
“What a weekend – it was great to be back and see some cars, hear some cars and smell some cars,” said Pittard, who has also achieved success in a range of historic machinery and was the 2014 Ginetta GT4 Supercup runner-up. “It was brilliant –
I’ve done a lot of sim racing through lockdown but the best feeling is strapping yourself in and then hearing the tyres going on and the air jacks coming out.
It’s been a long time coming.”
The 28-year-old is targeting a place in the BMW Motorsport factory ranks – which include his Walkenhorst co-driver Jensen – in the future and is aiming for more performances like the season opener.
“My short to medium-term goal is to be a BMW factory driver so this was a perfect opportunity to show I’ve been chomping at the bit for the last eight months to really get going,” said Pittard. “It was one of the first races back after quarantine and so many people were going to be tuning in, so to win this one I had all the eyes on me.”
One of the notable changes that allowed the race to take place was pitstops. While refuelling took place in the regular pits, tyre changes were carried out in a new pitlane in the paddock, which meant the 132 cars participating did not need to be serviced in cramped garages – a tweak that Pittard described as a “great solution”.