CONVINCING ELMS DEBUT MAX KOEBOLT REWARDED WITH P6

The first weekend of the European Le Mans Series proved to be successful for Max Koebolt. The Dutchman led the Nielsen Racing team and his teammates Austin McCusker and Nick Adcock to sixth at the finish of the 4 hours of Barcelona.

The opening event of the European Le Mans Series proved to be the first official introduction to this form of motorsport for Koebolt and the test days were therefore all about learning and preparing for the first 4 hour race of the season.

After several good test days a difficult qualifying session, in which McCusker set a strong time but found his name back in 17th place, followed. The team quickly managed to regroup for the race on the Spanish Grand Prix circuit and after a tumultuous start Nick Adcock steadily made his way up the field. The only problem was a hit by a LMP2 driver who wasn't paying attention as he tried to deal with traffic which resulted in lost time but no substantial damage.

After that successful opening, Koebolt took over the car at the halfway point and armed with a set of new tires, the first-time sportscar racer made an immediate impact. Koebolt was almost non-stop the fastest on track. The Dutchman was consistent, managed his tires extremely well and brought the car back to the pits in in seventh. “My hour in the car felt really awesome. Of course you are continuously learning during the race, but I am very satisfied with how my debut went. The car was excellent and it showed during the race. I'm happy! ”, said Koebolt, who handed his car over to the American Austin McCusker for the last hour of the race. McCusker then finished the job and finished the race on board of the Nielsen Racing Ligier in sixth place after 4 hours of racing.

“For us this is a great start and there is still so much we can and need to work on. But when you consider that we lost 30 seconds with the misunderstanding with the LMP2 driver, there could have been a podium today and that is just very good news for the rest of the season”, said an elated Koebolt.

The next race takes place at the Red Bull Ring circuit on May 15th and 16th