Perfectly tuned cars, motivated mechanics, good organisation and smoothly functioning pit stops – all this bears the signature of Achim Becker. Our chief mechanic and technical director talked to us about the nature of his work with Land-Motorsport.
You’re the team’s ADAC GT MASTERS technical director. What are your tasks?
At home in the workshop, I basically supervise everything that has to do with our cars. Primarily, this involves preparing them, ordering spare parts, component runtime control and organising necessary repairs. In addition, I’m in contact with the engineers and our damper specialists, in order to carry out any special setup requirements or make improvements. I lead the mechanics team during the race weekend itself and as chief mechanic, I also take care of the #1 car. What’s more, I’m available for any queries coming from the crew and drivers and I’m responsible for last vital adjustments in free practice and before qualifying.
You’ve been part of the team for many years. How did this come about and what makes the cooperation so special?
My first contact with the team was already in 2005 when I absolved a school internship at Land-Motorsport. After that, I was allowed to help at the 24-hour-race and individual VLN runs. That was a lot of fun and I loved it. I was hooked on motorsport, so I trained to be a car mechatronics technician and returned at the beginning of 2010 to Land. I’ve been a part of the team ever since. That’s a long time actually and it’s functioned so well and been a lot of fun because of the fantastic team spirit and long-term cooperation with many partners.
Is there a particular great moment with the team that you remember best? Were there disappointments or races, you’d rather forget?
I think there were a lot of really wonderful moments in the 13 years. Definitely the ADAC GT Masters title wins in 2016 and 2021. Not to forget, the victory at the 2017 24H Nürburgring. And I’ll never forget the time we spent driving in the US in the IMSA. To put it simply, it was the coolest time ever with awesome racing! Sure, there were also not so great moments. The 8-hour race in Laguna Seca for example. When you’ve led the race for seven and a half hours and are shot down shortly before the finish, that’s devastating. I didn’t really know whether to laugh or cry about the second place in Daytona – we were only 0,2 seconds behind the winner. That was so incredibly annoying and to be honest, we couldn’t get too excited about the podium finish. But that’s racing and part of the parcel!
