STI, Sponsored by Orient Watch, Takes 4th Place at the 2010 Nürburgring 24-Hour Race
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The 38th Nürburgring 24-Hour Race was held on May 15–16 at the Nürburgring circuit (25.378 km/lap) in Germany. Orient Watch-sponsored Subaru Tecnica International (STI) competed with Subaru Impreza WRX STI (team: Kazuo Shimizu, Toshihiro Yoshida, Marcel Engels, Carlo van Dam), completing the race without incident and taking 24th place overall and 4th place in the SP3T class.
Out of all the race categories, the 2L turbo class attracted the largest number of entrants, making it a fiercely fought contest. The competing Impreza started 13th on the grid in its class, with Shimizu at the wheel. By the end of the first hour, the team was in 12th place in its class, and during the next hour moved up to 8th place. After several more hours, the team had gained two more places to hit 6th position. In the early hours of the morning, by which time the team was in 4th place, many cars were forced to retire due to crashes and other trouble. For the STI team, however, it was a trouble-free run and the team finished in 4th place.
During the race, the German driver Marcel Engels wore a watch from Orient. The watch, which was specially developed for this race, was subjected to unrelenting vibration during the race and more than 2000 gear changes. The watch also had to endure G-forces many times greater than normal, while keeping accurate time.
The watch, which ably proved its durability and reliability in the severe environment of this race, will be available as part of the 2010 collection in a limited edition of 1,000 pieces.
