Review of the 2021 season and preview of the 2022 season

With ten victories, one second and two third places, Moritz Kranz can look back on a successful 2021 season! 

On the Nordschleife, Moritz was able to take six class wins together with Janine, establish himself in the top field of the SP9 category with lap times of less than eight minutes and cause a big surprise with the seventh starting position for the ADAC 24h race!

In LMP3, Moritz claimed the runner-up championship in the IMSA Prototype Challenge with wins at Daytona, Mid Ohio and Road Atlanta. A technical failure in Virginia unfortunately prevented a better result here. In Europe, Moritz competed in the Road to Le Mans and was also able to take a victory here!

In the 2022 season Moritz will continue to take the wheel together with Janine: "This season we will mainly focus on the GT Open. After many years on the Nordschleife, Janine is somewhat drawn to sprint racing and I'm looking forward to tackling this new challenge together with her!" Moritz will nevertheless remain loyal to the Nordschleife. For KKrämer Racing he will take the wheel of a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup: "I have been working with KKrämer for several years, especially in the area of driver coaching, so I am looking forward to actively supporting them behind the wheel!"

The first test drives for the GT Open will take place on 16 & 17.03 in Barcelona, the first drive with the 992 GT3 Cup is planned for 09-10.03 in Aragon.

Successful weekend for Moritz Kranz at the 62nd EIBACH ADAC ACAS Cup

Two starts - two victories. This is the balance for Moritz Kranz after the first two runs of the NLS Championship 2021.

Together with his teammate Janine Shoffner, Moritz Kranz was able to win the SP9 AM class, despite a starting position at the end of the first starting group: "In the qualification we had a lot of bad luck due to the many red phases and did not catch a free lap with the little driving time, so we would have started the race from 18th place. Unfortunately, however, our time was cancelled, and I didn't knew that until we were on the grid," said Kranz.

As the race progressed, Shoffner and Kranz were able to take over first place in class and move up to 20th overall. "Even though qualifying naturally made for a bit of a bumpy start to the race, we are of course more than satisfied as we were able to extend our lead in the class."

Next weekend, Moritz Kranz continues the preparation for the ADAC 24h-hour race with the ADAC 6h Qualifying race.

Class victory at the NIMEX 45th DMV 4h-Race.

Moritz Kranz draws a positive conclusion after his first race in the Mercedes AMG GT3 of Getspeed on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Together with his teammate Janine Shoffner, Kranz was able to win the SP9-AM and scratched the 8-minute sound barrier with a lap time of 8:00.9 minutes in the race: "In qualifying, we unfortunately had some bad luck with a yellow phase and a lot of traffic. In the race I had two long stints, the race kilometers were very valuable. I was able to get used to the car even more and also adapt my driving style further. Winning the AM classification is of course a perfect start to the season. Driving a GT3 like this on the Nordschleife is already a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to the rest of the season!"

The duo Shoffner/Kranz will take the wheel again at the third round of the NLS on the first weekend in May and directly afterwards at the ADAC 24h qualifying race: "Our goal is of course to extend the lead in the NLS, but especially in qualifying and in the first stint it would be fun for me to be able to annoy the established greats at the top a bit!".

NLS 1 - Despite cancellation a positive conclusion   

Although the first NLS run fell victim to the weather god, Moritz Kranz draws a positive conclusion. Friday was the first time in the GT3 car on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, together with his teammate Janine Shoffner, the Mercedes AMG GT3, which is used by GetSpeed Performance, was subjected to a first functional test.

Kranz completed 10 laps in his new car on Friday: "A GT3 like this is really fun on the Nordschleife! The jump from a GT3 Cup car to a pure GT3 is of course not to be sneezed at, but my experience in the LMP3 has helped me a lot in terms of aerodynamics and speeds. The team around Adam Osieka gave me a very warm welcome and with their help I was also able to prepare myself accordingly well for the car, there are a few buttons here that you should know how they work and the driving style is of course also quite different again than in GT3 Cup or LMP3."

How does Kranz assess the upcoming season? "I start together with Janine in the SP9 AM class, so of course we will only concentrate on our class for the time being in the races, i.e. we want to arrive and take points and not find ourselves in any unnecessary situations. But I am confident that we can provide one or the other highlight in the course of the season! On Fridays before the second NLS race it's back into the Mercedes AMG GT3 for me, but until then I still have one or two other appointments with my coaching clients, so I certainly won't be bored!".

NLS season 2021: Together with J2Racing and GetSpeed in the Mercedes AMG GT3

 In the season 2021 I will start in the Mercedes AMG GT3 in the SP9 in the NLS. In the past years I have been competing in the NLS in the GT4 and Porsche Cup, so I am very happy to make the move up to the SP9 class! The jump from the Cup-Porsche to the GT3-AMG should not be much bigger than from the GT4 to the Cup-Porsche. Nevertheless, I am very curious to see what awaits me. I've already learned how to use the aerodynamics of a race car during my stints in the LMP3. Now I need to bring that to the Nordschleife. I'll make intensive use of the test on Friday before the race and then I'm confident that I'll manage a good result together with Janine.

IMSA Prototype Challenge Sebring

The second round of the IMSA Prototype Challenge took place in Florida again, this time at the traditional Sebring circuit!

Since we had to start the race weekend without any tests, it was important for us to make maximum use of the limited driving time in the free practice sessions in order to cover as many kilometers as possible for both the drivers and the setup.


The times in free practice were promising, 3rd place with a 3/10 gap after FP2. Qualifying was a bit chaotic with an interruption due to the red flag bu in the end I was able to put our Duqueine in P1.

At the race start I was able to defend and also extend the lead, but several full course cautions (safety car) interruptions in my stint made it impossible to gain a lead. A problem during refueling threw us back to P9 at the pit stop, but my teammate Laurents was able to drive us up to P5. Unfortunately, that was all we could do this weekend!

Currently we are on P2 in the championship, in May we go to the third race weekend in Mid Ohio.

Next week we will also start in the NLS at the Nordschleife - there will be a nice surprise, be curious!

Moritz

Two weeks in Florida are over and with two wins and a third place, they were basically successful events!

On the first race weekend, I won the opening race of the IMSA Prototype Challenge together with my teammate Laurents Hörr: Pole, fastest race lap and victory. It couldn't have gone any better for us.

Immediately afterwards we continued with the qualifying race for the ROLEX 24h race the following weekend. There I was able to put the Duqueine D08 LMP3 from Mühlner Motorsports America on pole position. The lap time from qualifying was the fastest driven lap of all LMP3 cars for both race weekends! The qualifying race also went well, pole, fastest race lap and class win!

Last weekend we went into the big race, the 24h race of Daytona. Starting from pole position we had good chances to win the class, but two collisions without our fault and a loss of time caused us to lose time early on. In the end we were able to finish on the podium in 3rd place. Not what we had hoped for but "et is wie et is".

In a few weeks we will continue in Sebring, stay healthy and until then!

Moritz

Review of the 2020 season

A difficult 2020 season has come to an end but, looking back, I am happy with what I achieved this year.

NLS: In the NLS, I competed in four out of five races and managed six wins and two second places. It wasn't enough for a class championship because I didn't start in the fifth race. However, my team mates won the CUP3 and SP7 - congratulations!

Le Mans Cup: At the end of the season we were able to finish second in Portimao. This result finally reflects the performance we have had since the third round. The enormous bad luck that has accompanied us since the race in Spa-Francorchamps made it impossible for us to convert the performance into results. At the finale in Portimao we finally managed to get on the podium, hopefully a good sign for the 2021 season!

IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge: In the USA I was able to support my protégé Efrin from September. Efrin has improved extremely since his first race in the GT3 Cup car at the beginning of 2019 and has had a really impressive season. In the end, he finished runner-up in his class. The fact that he is the fastest driver is proven by the enormous number of pole positions and fastest race laps, but he has also repeatedly lacked the necessary bit of luck.

IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo: A new project that I was allowed to start at the season finale in Sebring. Here I drive together with the car owner on his Lamborghini Huracan and help him to improve steadily. In the 2021 season I will also be behind the wheel and compete in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America together with Tom.

News about the 2021 season will be posted here soon!

Best regards,

Moritz

IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge at Road Atlanta

Finally I was able to cross the pond again to help my student Efrin with words and deeds in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge. Due to the situation around COVID-19, this year there is no longer the possibility for me to test the car on Thursdays before the event.

So I had to fall back on data from last year, which we could compensate very well: Two pole positions, two fastest race laps and two victories - it couldn't be better! With the two victories, Efrin was able to get back into the fight for the title. The cooperation with Efrin's new team "TPC Racing" was also highly professional. In three weeks, the race will continue in Mid Ohio!

See you!

Moritz

Michelin Le Mans Cup in Le Castellet II - Performance for winning but bad luck strikes

The third race weekend of the Le Mans Cup took us back to Le Castellet. The free practice sessions showed a clear upward trend, as we were able to get much closer to the top.

In qualifying, things were a bit more difficult. The front tires didn't get up to temperature fast enough, so I had to settle for fourth place. In the race I drove the start and in the first half hour I was able to move up to second place. Then the rain came and with it the problems started: A power failure, probably caused by the rain, was the reason that we lost our no radio communication. The lack of communication with the pits caused extreme time losses during the pit stops, so that in the end we only finished in eleventh place.

A very sobering result as we had the performance to compete for victory. The next race will be in Le Mans, certainly the season highlight for me this season!

Many greetings,

Moritz

Michelin Le Mans Cup in Spa-Francorchamps - a difficult race weekend!
The race weekend in Spa started already on Wednesday with two sessions at the so-called Collective Tests, on Friday the first and second free practice and the Bronze Test were scheduled. On Saturday qualifying and the race.

We were much closer to the top right from the start and were able to collect important data on Wednesday and during the first free practice session. But at the Bronze Test my teammate in the Eau Rouge / Le Radillion area had an accident. The damage to the car could not be repaired anymore, so our mechanics had to completely set up and tune a second car on the night from Friday to Saturday. Accordingly, the race day turned out to be very difficult and with position 11 in the race we were beaten clearly under value.

On the positive side, we were able to gather a lot of important data and knowledge to make the next steps towards the top.

 Many greetings,

 Moritz

A successful first race weekend in the LMP3 is behind us!

The test drives on Thursday were used to work out a race setup and also in the free practice sessions we concentrated completely on the race performance.

Unfortunately, we had some technical problems in the qualification, so that my team mate could only drive a single flying lap at the end: Starting position 16 was the result.

In the first hour of the race, however, my team mate Tom was able to move up to ninth place. I was then able to move up to fifth place in the second hour of the race. A time penalty for the competition even meant fourth place in the end!

Now we will analyse the race and the data to prepare for the next race from 07.08.08 to 08.08 in Spa-Francorchamps.

Many greetings,

Moritz

Let's go! This year, I will be allowed to drive a Protoytpen program in addition to my GT program in the NLS and at the ADAC 24h races!

With a Duqueine D08 LMP3 I will start in the Michelin Le Mans Cup to gain first experiences in the LMP3 area. The first rollout in Spa-Francorchamps was promising, from 16-18.07 we will start the first race weekend in Le Castellet, France!

Many greetings,

Moritz

With some delay the NLS started into its season and we could make a really good start into the season with both cars!

At NLS1 we could win the GT3 Cup as well as the GT4 Trophy and so we could take home the first silverware from the Nürburgring Nordschleife!

At the rounds 2 & 3 it went on like this: four times P1! However, after the second run there was a decision of the race director to be discussed, so that we could celebrate with the GT3 Cup "only" the second place. But all in all it is an absolutely satisfying start with five wins and a second place from the first six races!

Many greetings,

Moritz

The first race of the season took place at the Autodromo do Algarve in Portimao.

With a double start, again GT3 Cup and GT4, I entered the first race of the season, which was also the first 24h race for this year. Due to the difficult to assess situation around Covid-19 the start was relatively late.

We were able to do a flawless job with both cars and thus achieve the first two victories in the 2020 season.

Best regards,

Moritz

The test day to prepare for the new season in the former VLN, now NLS, which stands for Nürburgring Endurance Series, took place on March 14 with the best weather the Eifel could think of.

With the GT4 Competition as well as with the GT3 Cup I went on the track to get new approaches in the setup area, because especially the GT3 Cup had to undergo some changes with the change to the SP7 class.

However, the first two events are already cancelled, because the current crisis situation around COVID-19 does not stop at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. So it remains to be seen when it goes on for us here.

Many greetings,

Moritz

At the beginning of March, in preparation for the Michelin LeMans Cup 2020 in Barcelona, the team got behind the wheel of the new Duqueine D08 LMP3.

During the first two days of testing I was able to get used to the new car very well and together with the car engineer of Duqueine the times in the qualifying simulation were really promising, especially since we had the reigning champion as a reference in the car as well.

In the current COVID-19 crisis the first two events of the Michelin Le Mans Cup have been cancelled, an absolutely understandable decision. For this reason, we have to wait and see how this crisis situation develops and how it will continue.

Many greetings,

Moritz

In the2020 season I will start again in the NLS (former VLN) and the ADAC 24h race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Furthermore, I will also be involved in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge and the Porsche Sports Cup, so that my racing calendar with 22 race weekends and many test drives is very full again.

In addition to my racing activities, I'm also back on selected weekends for Apex Nürburg as a driver in an Apex Taxi on the Nordschleife. Additionally I am working with Apex on an interesting project, more about this later!

Many greetings,

Moritz