A wave of enthusiasm: Timo Bernhard meets Sebastian Steudtner

WEBWIRE – Friday, Could presumably 13, 2022

The 36-Three hundred and sixty five days-extinct surfer Sebastian Steudtner gets two-time Le Mans overall winner Timo Bernhard wet at the DTM in Portugal.

With spring-love temperatures of 22 degrees celsius and sparkling sunshine at the season opener in Portimão, Portugal, the DTM’s drivers and groups are drawn to the ocean fling. Between the remaining take a look at drives and the first coaching session, a free day to swim and unwind beckons. As a series of drivers splash about in the shallow water of the Algarve fly, seven drivers self-discipline off for Praia de Cordoama sea fling, some 50 kilometres southwest of the bustle venue. One of them is Porsche Designate Ambassador Timo Bernhard. The two-time Le Mans winner and persistence world champion has one other title-holder at his side on in the in the intervening time: Sebastian Steudtner, the reigning sizable wave world champion and Porsche partner. The 36-Three hundred and sixty five days-extinct sends Bernhard into the surf.

“I don’t know if my forays can actually be described as surfing,” laughs the racing driver following his attempts – some reasonably ungainly – on the beginner’s board. “Nonetheless I had potentially the most succesful teacher on the planet. Within the raze, I change into as soon as actually on the board two or three instances, surfing a wave. Those few seconds by myself gave me an extraordinarily much releasing feeling.” Per Steudtner, the water tons in the instant vicinity of the ocean fling had been “most seemingly 50 cm high” – not reasonably what the surfing pro is aged to. Steudtner’s natural habitat are the waves in the wildest surf on earth, which is able to attain a towering 30 metres.

“There change into as soon as a rock face at the ocean fling that change into as soon as about 30 metres gigantic. Sebastian acknowledged that the waves he rides are in most cases that high. That’s totally not likely for me; I don’t even desire to think of it,” says Bernhard, owner of the unusual DTM Team 75 Bernhard, shaking his head in disbelief. “He loved diving into my world – in the truest sense of the note,” says Steudtner, slapping his thighs in amusement after his student’s involuntary underwater interludes. Even so: he who laughs very most inviting …

A day later, with the sun quiet beating down, the neoprene suits bear lengthy since dried. Time for the second leg: Bernhard introduces Porsche partner Steudtner to his high-flee world of racing. On completion of the DTM apply session, a Carmine Purple Porsche 911 Carrera GTS rolls into the pit lane of the Autodrómo Internacional enact Algarve conclude to Portimão at 18: 00.

Whereas Bernhard beams with anticipation, Steudtner is visibly nervous, but moreover angry, as he surveys the 353 kW (480 PS; 911 Carrera GTS: gas consumption blended (WLTP) 11.4 – 10.4 l/100 km, CO₂ emissions blended (WLTP) 258 – 236 g/km, gas consumption blended (NEDC) 10.3 – 9.7 l/100 km, CO₂ emissions blended (NEDC) 234 – 221 g/km) beast. The two men positioned on their helmets. Bernhard jumps into the driving seat first to designate his ‘learner driver’ the ideal line and braking facets on the 4.7 km circuit. For 2 laps, the Porsche Designate Ambassador actually puts his foot down, flippantly explaining how the job is carried out.

The sizable wave world champion is visibly overjoyed for the length of a short raze in the pit lane. Then they swap roles. Steudtner takes over the guidance wheel and heads out onto the undulating song. “Timo gave me wonderful instruction at the wheel of the 911. It change into as soon as spectacular and exhilarating because I’ve by no plan pushed on a racetrack earlier than. I actually got into a waft, it change into as soon as wonderful,” enthuses the Esslingen native. “Useless to claim, they toddle so much faster as soon as they’re racing. Nonetheless no person ought to quiet neglect that a vehicle is an enclosed fragment of sports equipment and there is an abundance of crumple zones. It’s very varied in my case. In surfing, the entire lot’s so much more stutter, you are feeling it straight away in all locations your physique – and that it is likely you’ll also moreover be travelling at up to 80 km/h, but there’s no brake on the board.”

The engineers at Porsche Engineering are infrequently at risk of assemble a brake for Steudtner’s high-tech equipment. Nevertheless, these consultants bear made every effort in most modern months to augment the world champion’s surfboard for the initiatives forward. “I’ll be in the wind tunnel with the board for 2 days in mid-Could presumably. This kind of constant pattern of a surfboard is for sure a novelty in sizable wave surfing,” says Steudtner.

IMAGE CAPTION:

Sebastian Steudtner, Reigning sizable wave world champion and Porsche partner, Timo Bernhard, Porsche Designate Ambassador, l-r, 911 Carrera GTS, Portimão, Portugal, 2022, Porsche AG

911 Carrera GTS: gas consumption blended (WLTP) 11.4 – 10.4 l/100 km, CO₂ emissions blended (WLTP) 258 – 236 g/km, gas consumption blended (NEDC) 10.3 – 9.7 l/100 km, CO₂ emissions blended (NEDC) 234 – 221 g/km

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