Pole position and best-in-class: A successful racing weekend for Hankook Team Farnbacher at the 24-hours at the German Nuerburgring

• Hankook Team Farnbacher takes starting line from pole position at the Eifel classic

• Fastest lap-time substantiates pole position

• Commanding win in the SP 8 class for the Hankook Farnbacher Ferrari Italia 458 GT

Neu-Isenburg/Germany June 28^th 2011 – The Hankook Team Farnbacher is pleased about their successful performance at the 24-hours at the Nuerburgring. During the first qualifying Dominik Farnbacher (GER) was able to achieve a spectacular lap-time of 8:23,764 minutes, an unassailable 6,617 seconds lead over an extremely strong competition, thus securing the pole position for the team. With this the Hankook Team Farnbacher drivers, works-drivers Dominik Farnbacher (GER) and Allan Simonsen (DK) as well as Jaime Melo Junior (BR) und Marco Seefried (GER), were able to take the starting line in a field of more than 200 participants from starting place 1 at the legendary Nordschleife on the team’s Ferrari 458 Italia GT.

Because of their excellent tactics and the outstanding tyre-performance the Hankook Team Farnbacher was not only able to bring home a commanding win in the SP 8 class but also to retain the lead in the overall field during the first hours of the race. Due to technical problems of the vehicle and necessary repair works during the first third of the race the team lost a valuable 44 minutes as the race proceeded. In an exceptional pursuit race and thanks to constantly fast lap-times the Hankook Team Farnbacher managed to achieve a Top-10 comeback and an excellent final 8^th position after temporarily having fallen back to position 78.

“We have taken the starting line at the Nuerburgring with a fantastic package of drivers, tyres and car, as our spectacular success during the qualifying and our commanding category win in the SP 8 class shows.” says Manfred Sandbichler, Director Motorsport Hankook Tire Europe. “Tyres, drivers and the car set-up have worked together really smoothly which enabled us to achieve a Top-10 positioning even after our forced break. Our takeaway is that we haven’t seen our full potential yet and are still to make the most of the opportunities available – even after this per se excellent pursuit race and extraordinary overall performance. We are therefore upbeat about the next race of the Le Mans Series in Imola and aim for a podium finish on 1^st-2^nd July.”

“Tyre-performance as well as the overall performance of our team would have allowed for a podium finish.” concludes works-driver Dominik Farnbacher. “For the time being we are really pleased about a successful pursuit race that was rewarded with an 8^th place and will definitely aim for the podium again next year.”