Crash-filled NEC Round 8 ends with DNF for No. 84 BMW Team
Benjamin Fischer qualified the No. 84 BMW M4 GT3 13th on the grid with a lap of 7:56.371 in a very competitive GT3 starter field.
“I have no idea how those guys were able to run those lap times, ten seconds faster than us. We felt like we had pretty good pace, but those guys were on a different level.”, Fischer said after Qualifying.
Fischer also started the race for the team, only to see himself get involved in a scuffle at the Mercedes Arena on lap one, after two cars were involved in a collision up ahead.
The Leipzig, Germany driver went wide to avoid the crash, but then got clipped in the rear, spun around and found himself sitting in the gras, having to let the entire field go past.
Dropping back by over fifty seconds, all the way to P16, the team once again was faced the challenge to rally back from early problems.
Fischer did his best and completed his first stint on lap seven. At that time, he had brought back the team to P13, equaling the team’s starting position, after working his way through the entire TCR, GT4 and 911 CUP field.
“That incident at the start was super annoying. I’ll have to check the replay what happened there. I saw nothing and nobody on my inside. All I know is, I got hit suddenly in the left rear and then spun around. But overall, I felt like the first stint went pretty good the rest of the way.”
The team completed its sole pit stop of the day quickly, changed no tires and sent Fischer back on the racetrack, who now went on to move all the way into ninth position in the next two laps.
“We had a nice battle with Sim Racing Academy and Ahrtal Motorsport. I really enjoyed that. Just a shame that those crashes happened then.”
First, Fischer benefited from a crash between the Ahrtal Motorsport machine and a Mazda MX-5 near Bergwerk. Later in the same lap, at Hohenrain, Fischer dove to the inside of another Mazda MX-5 who did not see Fischer and the two cars got into a heavy collision, ending the race for both.
“I have absolutely no idea why the Mazda moved over to the left. He was all the way to the right when I was about two car lengths behind him, then he suddenly moved over to close the door. It was like a trap, honestly.”, Fischer said.
Team-mate Pascal Theis never got to run a lap in the race, after the team realized it could not continue due to the damage sustained in the wreck.
“It is what it is, I guess. Ben did a great recovery drive there, I though. But I guess that’s just the way this season has been going for us. When we needed a bit of luck, it didn’t go our way.”, Theis commented on the race.
The 2021 NEC season will conclude in two weeks, on October 10th with Round 9 at the Nürburgring.