Weekend Reflection: NATC Endurance at Lausitzring

As I write this update from Germany, I’m halfway through my 3-month stay here. It’s been a whirlwind of learning, new experiences, and impactful moments. The racing has been a joy and I look forward immensely to keep embedding myself deeper into German motorsport. A foundation to refine in Europe hopefully over the next few years. My online university work hasn’t let up though!

Klettwitz, Germany - October 11th, 2020

With a few weeks before the next BMW 318ti Cup race meeting, myself and JAS Rennsport decided to compete in an additional race weekend with a primary objective on getting quality seat time in our car, after a frantic mixed condition weekend at Sachsenring left me wanting some proper long and dry running!

The race meeting was with NATC, a club organization for touring cars in the north of Germany. Each of their meetings features a 110-minute endurance race similar in length to the BMW 318ti Cup. We decided to enter their October event at DEKRA Lausitzring.

Myself and Luca (Alpert, teammate) arrived after a 3-hour drive on the autobahns. Check in to the event and say hello to JAS Rennsport, help unload our truck, and take an extremely picturesque track walk in the evening before race day. Then its time to enjoy Buletten and Schnitzel on a Brotchen roll, of course! With only about a dozen cars entered for our race, I’d get plenty of open track to refine my driving techniques in this unique platform as well as learn one of Germany’s most popular circuits. A couple of fellow 318ti Cup competitors joined us with Cerny Motorsport, long established front runners in the main championship. A great benchmark to have!

With me on endurance duty, Luca would hop in and race the Youngster Sprint race so that we could share notes and data. Practice went well and his prior experience at the circuit helped raise my pace quickly. Unfortunately though, Luca suffered a power steering failure at the end of his qualifying session and with only a 10 minute gap before the grid to race closed, we missed our chance and I was to start from the pit lane. But we got the car fixed in time!

Spending a consecutive two hours aboard a race car teaches you a lot. You’re able to enter the flow state for much longer and deeper than a traditional sprint race. It’s an especially useful state-of-mind to reach while you’re early on in bonding with a particular race car or circuit (both in my case here). Before this, I had roughly two and a bit hours combined behind the wheel of a 318ti Cup car which came in many short sessions. I was finally able to shift my mental actions in the car from conscious to unconscious, which gave a lot of clarity on the miniscule details required to drive this car quick. Honing in the brain on everything from the weight balance, pedal pressure and release points, or the effects of taking a kerb one or two meters deeper. To gain a second on average from qualifying, and another second per lap from beginning-to-end in the race was super rewarding! What seems like a minor improvement in one corner will manifest into a sizeable gain throughout the entire lap, then a full stint, then the entire race. Reaching flow is the best teacher in racing. And it was fantastic to reach it again!

The actual ‘racing’ itself took place mostly with a 5-10 second gap to the leaders that came as a result from the delayed pit lane start. I was able to complete a three-wide pass on two competitors in the first 30 minutes, but after the first round of two mandated stops one of them leapfrogged us on a better timed pit call and that gap roughly remained going forward.

Turns out that 110-minutes of racing for a single driver drains a lot of energy and fluids! With mandated closed windows on race cars here and lacking to realize the cockpit vents weren’t on, it made for a warm double stint! Truth be told, likely the most sweat I’ve produced in a race yet! A total of 56 laps were achieved, with my personal best coming at lap 52. To reiterate my feelings from above, it was a productive experience and I leave feeling more confident with the package!

With three minutes remaining, the power steering pump failed once again and we had to retire the car with a lap to go. Shame not to see the checkered, but our objective was completed. As well as the JAS Rennsport team learning a lot about this issue and will make sure it doesn’t occur when the stakes matter, that’s the nature of testing!

By the time of failure, that gap to the leader had not changed much at all. I’m pleased to have matched similar pace to very experienced 318ti Cup drivers like Florian Sternkopf and Henry Cerny, but I’ve still got plenty to learn.

As for upcoming races, my next race should’ve been last weekend in the Eifel mountains. Unfortunately, both the season ending BMW 318ti Cup races at Nürburgring and Autodrom Most had to be cancelled for various COVID-related reasons. It’s a shame, we were ready to have a packed schedule of driving around the ‘Ring but alas it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, the organizers have found replacement dates at Blister Berg on November 6-8th and Oschersleben on November 14th-15th and they will be great events.

Though, the JAS Rennsport team and myself will be back in the NATC Endurance series at our home circuit in Oschersleben this weekend on October 25th! There is an increased entry of 15 competitors from the 318ti Cup and it will be a truly spectacular experience. That’s all for now!

Special thank you to Luca, Lars, and Kai at JAS Rennsport, my family, Karen J, and Deana C.

Cheers, Matt Million

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