A perfect setting for the first 24-hour race of his career. At the weekend, Niklas Krütten competed for the Schubert Motorsport team in a new BMW M4 GT3 at the legendary Nürburgring 24-hour race.
230,000 fans witnessed a faultless debut appearance for the 19-year-old from Trier at one of the world’s greatest motor racing events. Together his with driving team-mates, BMW works drivers Jens Klingmann (Heidelberg), Jesse Krohn (Finland) and Alexander Sims (Great Britain), Krütten battled for a podium finish in the best BMW among the 138 competing cars. However, the performance by Niklas Krütten went unrewarded as the team was forced to retire the car due to a defect less than half an hour from the finish.
The quartet of drivers delivered a great race. Having started from 20th place, the team concentrated on working their way forwards, leading the race for a total of 25 laps. Niklas Krütten held his nerve during his stints, making no mistakes and moving up a few positions. The driver, who has enjoyed the support of the ADAC Stiftung Sport for some years, and his team battled for a podium finish at the 50th edition of the 24-hour classic for 23 hours and 32 minutes, only for their efforts to be halted by a defect. “We are not sure if a stone damaged the cooling system, but the temperature just kept on rising. To spare the engine, we then reluctantly decided to end the race early,” explained team principal Torsten Schubert.
Niklas Krütten: “We had a good race, kept out of trouble and were able to compete up front over the whole distance. Some tyre damage led to an unscheduled pit stop, which cost us some time. But we were able to claw that back as a team and catch up with the leaders. My stints went really well, with no problems. The team had definitely earned a better result today. Everyone did a great job and the BMW M4 GT3 was lapping really quickly. It is hard to take when it ends like this.”
After his first 24-hour race, Niklas Krütten is now heading to the next highlight of the season. The 19-year-old will be appearing for the COOL Racing team on 10th June at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans (France).