The first race in the new season of the North American Racing League Porsche Cup Series kicked into gear on April 27th at Belle Isle. The famed Detroit street course is best known for its bumps, unforgiving walls, and lack of good over-taking opportunities, making it a challenging choice in a series in one of the most challenging cars on iRacing service, infamously known for its deadly combination of high horse-power and lack of driver assists, like traction control and anti-lock brakes. Despite a plan to have two cars in the race, Volker Krebs stood P23 at the start in a 41 car grid as the solo representative for Spaßmacher Rennsport, having qualified with a 1:33.534.
Capitalizing on some difficult-to-generate passing opportunities and early misfortune of some other drivers, Volker was able to steadily navigate up the field; by lap 7 he found himself up six positions in 17th. Unfortunately, on lap 9, the challenges of the tight course bit as competitors spun ahead of him, blocking the track and allowing cars behind to leverge their momentum to get around him, pushing Volker back to P19.
At the conclusion of the 30 minute, 20 lap race, Volker finished up four positions from the start, in 19th, with an average pace of 1:35.795, and a fastest lap (on lap 3) of 1:33.532; a solid Top 20 debut in a very competitive field!
The next race will be on Thursday, May 4 at Autodromo Internazionale Enze e Dino Ferrari (a.k.a. Imola). Check https://northamericanracingleague.com/leagues/porsche-cup-league/porsche-cup-am/ for further details or the full series schedule.