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NGK Spark Plug Europe starts VLN season with an own team

slashes Press release from 04/30/2015

Ratingen, 30.04.2015 – For the first time in company history, NGK Spark Plug Europe is participating in the VLN long-distance championship with its own car: A Ferrari 458 Challenge, which successfully debuted in its first fully valid race on April 25, finishing second in the SP8 category.

 

It was a typical cool and wet day in the Eifel region of Germany, when the red and black racer in NGK/NTK design secured a fantastic second place in the SP8 category at the 40th DMV 4-Hour Race against very strong opponents. 

Supported by NGK/NTK high performance spark plugs and sensors and with the right choice of tyres to brave the wet track, the young team had already shown a top performance in the qualifying for the SP8 category: The driver trio consisting of George Richardson (UK), Robert Smith (UK) and Stephan Kuhs (GER) secured an outstanding sixth place. During the actual race, they were able to move up to second place in the same category − even in the face of a loose diffuser and an unexpected pit stop.

“This stupendous start in the SP8, one of the most demanding classes of the VLN, has electrified the entire NGK/NTK team,” says Damien Germès, Senior Vice President of NGK Spark Plug Europe. “We are looking forward to many more exciting races and wish the team good luck and much success!”   

With 38 racing seasons, the Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring (VLN) is among the most successful and rich in tradition mass motorsports series. More than 200 teams take part in the competition, driving cars from more than 30 car manufacturers. Nine of the ten races take four hours, whereas the season highlight, the ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Race scheduled for September, takes six hours.

This year’s season opener at end of March saw the debut of the RaciNGK team, which presents racing enthusiasts with a special visual highlight: Its red and black Ferrari 458 Challenge starts in the SP8 category for vehicles of up to 6,200cc and puts 490 HP on the track. In addition to Scuderia Ferrari’s Formula One car, for which NGK Spark Plug exclusively supplies the spark plugs, it is the second racer from Maranello to take part in professional racing with products from NGK/NTK as well as with the NGK/NTK logo on the body of the car.

The reason for NGK’s engagement: NGK Spark Plug has been one of the most relevant partners of international motorsports for many years now. The company’s products can be found in the champions’ vehicles in Formula One, MotoGP, Moto2 and WRC. Motorsports therefore presents the perfect opportunity to prove the top performance of NGK spark plugs and NTK sensors such as lambda sensors and exhaust gas temperature sensors. “Motorsports and endurance racing like the VLN in particular put our products to the ultimate test,” comments Damien Germès, Senior Vice President of NGK Spark Plug Europe. “Additionally, our VLN engagement also forms the ideal platform for incentives, as it offers our best-performing distribution partners the opportunity to experience a round of the most comprehensive racing track in the world – or the action in the pit lane when the race is on.”

 

About NGK: NGK is the world’s leading manufacturer of spark plugs, glow plugs and lambda sensors. The Company runs production plants and sales organisations all over the world. With a total of 13,000 employees, the Company generates an annual turnover of around 2.7 billion euros. NGK is represented on all continents and has 43 group companies, 24 production plants and 5 technical centres.

 

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For further information contact:

Marcel Aßmann

Specialist PR & Event

Aftermarket EMEA

NGK SPARK PLUG Europe GmbH Harkortstr. 41

40880 Ratingen

Germany

AG Duesseldorf HRB 43118

Tel: +49 (0)21 02 974 152

E-mail: m_assmann@ngkntk.de

 

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