It was a true Green Hell weekend for Alex Fontana in his debut season in the NLS championship, an endurance series on the Nordschleife circuit, which saw the Swiss driver return after an absence of more than four years. Alex, who was racing with the Car Collection team with which he usually participates in the GT Open, had to deal with a series of unfamiliar factors, starting with the Audi R8 in which he was only able to complete a single lap during the Friday test and set-up session before it was interrupted due to a serious incident in the paddock that forced the cancellation of the scheduled activities.
Catapulted into qualifying on the Saturday morning, Alex was the German team’s fastest driver, allowing his teammates to take 11th place on the grid, with Florian Spengler being chosen to start the race. However, the arrival of heavy rain during the first lap saw the 35-year-old German plough into the barriers, puncturing both tyres. Fate then intervened to give the #33 car an unexpected boost, thanks to the red flag being shown during the second lap of the race due to a multiple crash involving the leading cars caused by the prohibitive circuit conditions. In the meantime Spengler was able to return to the pits and the race director reduced the duration of the race from six to four hours.
Fontana was then chosen to take the wheel at the restart from the second row of the grid and after a cautious start, given the presence of patches that were still damp in the first sector of the circuit, the Swiss driver fought his way back from 4th place to what would become a provisional 1st during the fifth lap. However, after allowing Car Collection to work on Spengler’s damaged car during the red flag period, fate then forced Fontana to stop with an electronic problem, which caused the car to lose over a lap. Having managed to restart thanks to the help of the marshals, Alex returned to the pits and handed the car over to Klaus Koch, who accumulated another lap deficit before handing over in turn to Spengler and then Johannes Stengel, who crossed the finish line in 13th place overall, 4th among the GT3 cars and 2nd in the Pro-Am class.
Alex Fontana
“This was never an easy nor straightforward weekend. We started on the Friday with terrible news regarding an accident in the paddock involving dozens of people and this obviously affected our mood. Sometimes we forget how dangerous this sport can be, not only on the track, and my first thought is for those who are now fighting to recover and I hope they can do so as well and as quickly as possible. From a sporting point of view, I’m going home with a lot of satisfaction. With virtually no points of reference, I managed to record our best time in qualifying and our race management was very positive. A problem with the electronics deprived us of the chance to defend the overall race lead we held at that point, an incredible result in itself considering that this was Car Collection’s seasonal debut in the NLS. I would like to thank the team for involving me and my teammates for helping me adapt to this car as quickly as possible. My main goal with Car Collection obviously remains the GT Open, but I am happy to have been able to add another adventure to my diary this season.”