Season-best fourth place in 6 Hours of Silverstone

There has been much speculation and talk during the last few days prior to the 6 Hours of Silverstone after Fischer Motorsport struggled with problems related to the tires and unusually high track temperatures during the free practice sessions. On Saturday, however, the critics were silenced quickly. In an incredible performance, the German drivers duo of Manuel Mayer and Pascal Theis rallied in the No. 84 Porsche 911 RSR GTE, to drive from a 17th spot on the starting grid all the way to fourth place, falling just short of earning the team's first podium finish this season.

Mayer leads the charge with furious opening hour

© 2020 Fischer Motorsport Lap 10: Mayer passes Eddie Beswick in the No. 222 Ford GT

Mayer immediately got down to business early on and pushed the team into the top ten within the first half hour of the race. At the end of the opening stint, Mayer returned to pit road, holding eighth place in the race.

The team ran like clock work, also during the pit stop and found itself in sixth place once all the other teams had completed their round of pit stops as well.

"The team has done a phenomenal job, really. I was able to push quite a bit early on. We made quite a few setup changes late in Friday's free practice session and it really helped us and brought us forward. Also, there were a few teams who had good pace overall, but they struggled on the corner exits, where we had an advantage. That really helped us make up quite a few spots early on.", Mayer commented on his first stint.

Team escapes several scary moments and close calls during night hours

On lap 90, exactly at the halfway mark of the race, the No. 75 Ford GT of JSH Racing Academy spun in turn one and Mayer used the opportunity to take over fourth position. Doing so, the Teisendorf, Germany driver had to survive a major scare, because at the same time Pierre Pontgahet in the No. 14 LMP1 prototype dived into the gap on the inside of the corner, to lap both cars at once.

"That was more luck than skill, that moment. I was totally focused on not hitting the 75, when they locked up. And suddenly the LMP1 dives in on the right side. We were extremely lucky in that situation.", Mayer commented later on the incident.

Theis had a similar experience only fifty minutes later, but just like Mayer, was able to use excellent reflexes to avoid a crash, when Marcus Knotzka in the No. 403 Porsche of Pace Syndicate spun on his own in the final chicane of the course and stood across the track.

"At first, I didnt see him, because of the angle and also because it was so incredibly dark at night. That sure was a code brown, I tell you. But I was able to react. I saw that he was trying to get going again towards the front, so I quickly went right. Otherwise we'd have crashed.", Theis added.

As if this wasn't enough drama just yet, the Frankfurt, Germany driver had to prove his reflexes once more only seven laps later. Still running in fourth place, Theis reached a group of slower GTE class cars that were already laps down. This included Jesper Falkenström in the No. 020 Porsche, who happened to lose control and spin in turn six, directly in front of Theis.

© 2020 Fischer Motorsport Lap 120: Theis narrowly avoids the No. 020 Porsche of Jesper Falkenström

The 26-year old Fischer Motorsport driver was barely able to escape mayhem, narrowly missing a terribly collision. Directly behind Theis, Nicolas Laurent in the No. 21 Porsche of Team-R Sim-Racing was not as lucky and plowed into Falkenströms car, which resulted in a broken axle and retirement for Falkenströms Team, No Nonsense Racing. Theis came down to pit road on the same lap, for the team's next scheduled pit stop.

The team's strategy, to change drivers and all four tires after every stint, seemed to pay off. Mayer once again took over the steering wheel from Theis to commence his final stint of the night in the six hour race, ready to push forward, in the hope of catching the leaders. The team was behind by about 40 seconds to the leaders at the time, with about two hours remaining in the event.

On lap 133 Mayer exited turn one to find himself startled, looking at the spinning No. 522 BMW M8 GTE of Team VP-Gaming.de driver Max Read directly ahead. The 31-year old showed tremendous awareness and skill to once again avoid a crash, even though the team did lose some time in the process. In the following laps after, Mayer seemed to have the better pace compared to the leaders, but also kept losing time again due to a lot of traffic from slower cars running laps down.

"That's part of multi-class racing, you know. All in all I think this was a really good race, not only for us, but also for the fans. The lapped cars really paid attention and gave a lot of room. Sure, there were some scary moments, but you practically always have those in any race.", Theis commented on the race.

Error by Theis shortly before the happy end

© 2020 Fischer Motorsport Lap 163: Theis escapes a big scare in the esses, after making a driver error

Shortly after the race's finale hour had begun, Mayer brought the car back to the pits running in P4, to hand the car back over to Theis, who was tasked with finishing the race for the team. Theis re-entered the track still holding fourth position, knowing he'd not have to pit again under normal circumstances.

On lap 163, the team had to overcome another big scare. Theis missed the racing line and braking points at the esses and went off track. Only thanks to a display of great presence of mind, he was able to avoid a spin and continued without any damage to the car. But now the team's focus for the race shifted to 'hold the position and bring home fourth place.'

And thus Theis crossed the finish line 17 laps later, bringing home the team's best result in the current iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series season. Team VSR and their No. 1 BMW M8 GTE team captured victory honors in the GTE class, while Atlantis Racing took overall victory and first place honors in the LMP1 class. The win in the LMP2 class went to the No. 5 HPD of Virtual Gaming Academy.

Visibly exhausted and marked from a physically and mentally challenging race, Theis exited the car on pit road and high fived with Mayer and the rest of the team.

"I'm just super, super happy. Kudos to Manuel. What an incredible job by him, really. I'm so darn proud of our performance this weekend. We had big problems in the free practice sessions, with the tires and lack of grip. If you'd have told me, we'd get our best season finish in this race, I'd not have believed you.", Theis said.

The iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series goes into its 2020-2 season finale in two weeks at Le Mans. The 6 Hours of Le Mans will simultaneously provide the final dress rehearsal for Fischer Motorsport, before the June 20 iRacing 24 Hours of Le Mans.