Falken Motorsport driver anticipates quick Nürburgring 24-Hr with new Porsche

Back in January, the Falken Motorsport Team announced that it would return to the Nürburgring 24 Hour race on 25-26 June running a GT3 R specification Porsche 911, in a break from its tradition of Japanese sports cars. Peter Dumbreck, will be racing the car in this year’s 24 Hours, also breaking from Japanese manufactured cars, exemplified by his Nissan GTR drive in this year’s GT1 World Championship, though he notes that he has “driven a few Porsches earlier in my career including the Alzen 996 Turbo and 996 and 997 Cup cars in the Carrera Cup six or seven years ago. I’ve also driven an older RSR at the Nurburging in 2005”. Previewing the event for Falken, Dumbreck talked about the differences between driving Porsche models, such as the 997, and Nissan’s GTR, including his impressions of the Falken tyre specifications for the former, on which they have been tested.

“This is the first year Falken has run a Porsche and they needed to develop new tyres to get the most from the 997,” says Dumbreck. “The Porsche is very different to the front engine, rear drive Nissan so this has to be factored into the construction. In addition, Falken’s experienced engineers have been analysing the track surface and composition to offer the required grip. Its engineers are highly experienced and know how to build a durable, consistent tyre, something that is essential in such a race.

“Falken has an exceptional heritage at the circuit and each year we get better and better. I also know this knowledge is used by the road car engineers so it’s unsurprising their performance tyres such as the FK452 are widely used on track days. Our demands for a consistent tyre with good turn in and responsiveness are things that are equally relevant for this and the road.”

Speaking further about the Nürburgring 24 Hour race, Dumbreck revealed that the manufacturer had fixed its compounds for the race during the latest tests: “We used our last test to fix the compounds and FALKEN is already starting to produce the tyres for the race in June. We’ll have multiple compounds including a softer one for the cooler night stints as well as inters and wets – the weather is changeable!

“The engineers from Japan know how to make a good race tyre and with the ALMS programme, also with a Porsche though GT2 spec, they were rapidly able to define a core compound and construction that was great from the off. The tyres remained consistent during long run testing and very user friendly without any snap oversteer which can be very difficult on tracks like the Nordscheife. That’s another advantage we have.”

Dumbreck also spoke about the car’s set up. While this has been tweaked in conjunction with the tyre tests, he explained that “it’s important that you have a base set up before doing the tyre work and fixing the compounds. Having factory drivers such as Jorg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler mean we are good shape and both of those highly experienced Porsche drivers feel the car is good and we can refine set up in our next run.”

Asked how Falken’s new 997 compare to the other Porsches, Dumbreck replied that the car “is so user friendly”, explaining the importance of features like TPMS and adjustability: “We have an adjustable seat and steering wheel making it easy for all of us to get comfortable and there’s four of us sharing the car in the 24 hour race. There is traction control, ABS and tyre pressure monitoring too. The latter is vital at the Nordschleife and during testing I got advanced warning of a slow puncture and was able to return the car safely to the pits. With a 26km lap, having the data around you is essential.

“The rear is very stable even over some of the jumps. I looked down at Flugplatz to see we are doing over 200kmh, that’s quick enough through there and the car feels good. The ABS is also really good; it’s subtle and really inspires confidence. For less experienced drivers it enables you to go harder into the corner, something that’s important in the Porsche. You can flat shift with the sequential box too, with an auto blip on downshifts, it all helps and prevents risks of locking the rears or miss-shifting.”

Ultimately, the Porsche requires a different style of driving than the Nissan, Dumbreck concludes: “I find trail braking is a good way to carry speed into the car without upsetting the balance. There is a lot of weight over the rear and whilst we have exceptional grip with the large rear tyres (330mm wide), with the Porsche you need to brake deeper and commit to the apex before getting hard on the power. I’m finding oversteer is neutralised with the traction control and this enables us to get good lap times.  I’ve also recently done track day tuition in 997s in the UK and there are similarities to the road 997 and using this technique to improve lap times.

“We are not far off 40 seconds quicker than the Nissan last year so the pace is there with this car and our latest tyre. This was backed up by Jorg Bergmeister, my team mate and factory driver who, at the first round, qualified 6th. Top speed is around 280kmh, so it’s quick!”