Yuasa congratulates GERT56 on winning the Le Mans 24 Hours!
Le Mans, France. The German Endurance Racing Team “GERT56” has won the 24 hours of Le Mans in the Superstock class.
In the most difficult, changeable conditions Lucy Glöckner, Stefan Kerschbaumer and Toni Finsterbusch were able to prevail against the competition with a more than strong performance. In the overall ranking of the race, the team finished eighth.
This time the trio had luck on their side as well: While some of the competition failed, Finsterbusch, Glöckner and Kerschbaumer always had the conditions perfectly under control. There were two unscheduled pit stops – one to change the dashboard and one to replace a broken footrest – apart from that everything went like clockwork and as planned.
The team had to deliver a total of 26 pit stops behind the driver trio and all of them ran perfectly synchronized and without any errors. Tires had to be changed several times and more than planned, because on Saturday evening as well as on Sunday morning the weather was constantly changing with rain and sunshine.
In the end, they didn’t want to risk anything anymore, built in two safety stops for tires and refueling and finally crossed the finish line with a three-lap lead over the runner-up.
The race was characterized by many slips and falls – GERT56 was one of the few teams that always kept the wheels of the BMW S 1000 RR facing the tarmac.
Gert56 by Yuasa: Pit stop at the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours
Lucy Glöckner:
In this constantly changing weather, this was probably one of the toughest races I have ever raced in my career. We saw that it was more than easy to crash. Sometimes we might have preferred to go for a second of safety and mastered the race cleverly. I’m absolutely happy – my two team mates Stefan and Toni did a mega job and it’s now the second 24 Hours victory for the team, but the first one in Le Mans and this in the seventh attempt.
Stefan Kerschbaumer:
Driving fun is something different than in these conditions, but we did it and won. Everything went smoothly, we also had a bit of luck on our side – for example, that a change to rain tires came exactly when I had to pit anyway. I can’t plan something like that in a hundred starts. It’s absolutely brilliant that we were able to win this race and I’m happy for the whole team.
Toni Finsterbusch:
My first 24-hour race and then I won right away! It could not have been better. It was really exhausting out there and we always had to find the right balance between attack and defense. The team did a mega job in the pits and mastered all the stops perfectly and the three of us gave everything on the track – and it was more than easy to make any mistakes today.
Karsten Wolf::
It took seven years until we were able to stand at the top here at Le Mans. Normally we’ve always had bad luck here – this time even such good luck, which you can’t imagine, for example the scheduled pit stop with Kerschi when rain starts to fall. Our tried and tested BMW S 1000 RR didn’t make a fuss and in the end we are right at the top here. But it’s also a fact that we wouldn’t have been able to do this without the commitment of Pirelli Germany and Björn Lohmann, because otherwise we would have stood there without tires. Also all our partners and sponsors, who kept the pole in these difficult Corona times, made this success possible. Our families, friends and acquaintances also deserve our sincere thanks – and above all to those employers who helped us endure the many vacation postponements this year and thus ensured that I was able to deploy my powerful troop here.
Link to our partner GERT56:
www.gert56.de
www.gert56.de
About GS YUASA Battery Germany GmbH (www.yuasa.de):
GS YUASA is one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of rechargeable batteries, with production facilities worldwide, as well as original equipment manufacturer for many major brands. Each battery in the YBX automotive series is extremely powerful, high quality and reliable.
GS YUASA Battery Germany GmbH, founded in 1983 as YUASA Battery (Europe) GmbH, has its headquarters in Krefeld and serves 15 countries within Europe from there. The three business areas include the automotive sector (automotive starter batteries), motorcycles (motorcycle starter batteries) and industrial (industrial batteries for standby and cyclical applications).
GS YUASA is sponsor of the GERT56 Racing Teams.
