“Until we had to stop, we were having a really good race,” Lucas Auer told, among others, Motorsport.com as he reflected on the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
The #3 Mercedes Team Verstappen Racing entry had looked to be on course for victory thanks to its comfortable lead over the #80 AMG, but a driveshaft failure ended its hopes with around three hours left.
“Of course it’s frustrating, but I’m also proud of our group,” Auer added. “It was an absolute pleasure to share the car with the guys and with the whole team.”
Auer has already spoken to Max Verstappen about the problems and said his reaction was the same: “frustrating”. “But in the end, we have all been in motorsport long enough to know how this business can be sometimes. Up to that point, though, it was really great,” stressed the Austrian, who had already seen the problems coming. “I was upstairs, next to a few engineers, so I knew what was going on.”
Where Daniiel Juncadella revealed that he did not suspect contact during the race had caused the problems, Auer said that it “has to be investigated”. “But no, up to that point it had actually been a very clean race.”
Asked whether the failure could have been the result of aggressive driving – not only in battles, but also over the kerbs – or whether it was simply bad luck, Auer replied: “No, that’s just what you do here. With the traffic management and the different classes, it’s a matter of survival for everyone — for the car and for the drivers. But from our side, it was actually quite a clean race.”
“Amazing experience”
#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon, Lucas Auer
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Asked whether there is now unfinished business, Auer said “maybe, actually”. Should the team return in this line-up next year for another attempt? “Maybe we should think about that, but we haven’t spoken about it.”
Auer had nothing but praise for the team itself. “Amazing job. I can only say thank you – a really stellar job from them,” said Auer, who “enjoyed” driving the Mercedes with this team. “When you drive for a German manufacturer, this is the biggest event and there is always pressure. But in the end, with Max as well, it was an amazing experience.”
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