BENJAMIN CARTERY
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Young Silver Driver
Benjamin Cartery by Nikaia Motorsposrt&Management © 2019
21-22 June 2024
Hello everyone!
After more than a year away from the NLS championship, I am very happy to have taken part in the 3rd round 2024 and to have claimed the victory!
It’s been a long time since I was last on the grid for an NLS round and I have to say it was a lot of fun to be back.
I took part in the race with the Max Kruse Racing Falken Tyres Golf TCR No.10 line-up together with my two German teammates, Matthias Wasel and Timo Hochwind.
We started with free practice on Friday afternoon. It was a very positive session, with many laps on a dry and stable track, which gave me the opportunity to get up to speed before the race.
Saturday morning I was supposed to start the qualifying session. But in typical Eifel style we had a lot of fog and the start of the session was delayed by more than 2 hours, until the conditions were acceptable to go out on track safely. After a long wait and lots of coffee, we finally got the green flag after 10 :)
As expected, I took the wheel of our car first on a very slippery/greasy track, but I still managed to do a good lap putting us at the top of the standings. As the track improved during the session everyone got faster and hats off to Timo who did a great lap allowing us to start from pole in our class, P3 in group 2 and P24 overall.
The weather forecast predicted a bit of rain for us at the start of the race, but fortunately we had beautiful sunshine that stayed for most of the race. Timo took the start and did very well. We were fighting with the GT4s which are usually faster than our Golf TCR, which shows how fast our car was and the amazing job done by the entire Max Kruse Racing team to prepare it for an outstanding performance! I did the second stint and drove the whole middle part of the race. It was a pretty hectic stint, in the old Nordschleife way, with a lot of action on track, lots of Code60s and a lot of traffic. It was still a very fun race in which I really felt comfortable in the car and managed to hand the wheel back to Matthias in the lead of the class. Matthias finished the job perfectly crossing the checkered flag first in our class, despite a tough end to the race with some drops of rain along the track that made it stressful for us in the pits.
In the end it is a victory, so I am very happy with this result! It is also my first victory in the NLS championship, I managed to get on the podium several times in 2022 but never won, so another important sporting goal has been achieved.
Thanks to the team for welcoming me once again, to Benjamin Leuchter for his trust, to our crew for flawless work and perfect execution and to my teammates for an outstanding line-up and result!
You may have noticed a new logo, many thanks to OFMECO Heat Transfer Technology Srl and Matteo Longhi, a new sponsor whom I proudly welcomed at my side with a beautiful race win. More details will be announced very soon about this new partnership, so stay tuned!
Last but not least, I would like to thank all my partners, starting with Synoptic, Eze my hometown, Les Grands Chais Monégasques, Botti Food Service, Scuderia Tazio Nuvolari and my Family. Thank you very much for everything!
See you soon!
Benjamin Cartery
BENJAMIN CARTERY
SOCIAL
PHONE
Young Silver Driver
Benjamin Cartery by Nikaia Motorsposrt&Management © 2019