Big cheers in the Haribo Racing Team, the winner of the 39th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennens: After 4: 00: 21,323 hours, Uwe Alzen in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 was the first to be flagged. Together with Jan Seyffarth and Lance David Arnold, the Bonn-based team not only recorded their first Mercedes-AMG victory in the 2016 VLN season, but also their first team success since the eighth race in 2010. At that time, Lucas Luhr and Richard Westbrook in the Porsche 911 GT3 R also in a striking gold bear look. The two BMW M6 GT3s from Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop finished the race in second and third place. The brand mix at the top was rounded off by the Falken Porsche 911 GT3 R and the Audi R8 LMS from Twin Busch Motorsport on positions four and five. Alexander Mies and Michael Schrey defended the championship lead - the duo drove confidently to the sixth class win in a row in the hard-fought Cup5 class (BMW M235i Racing Cup).
Four hours of thrilling racing action on the most beautiful and demanding race track in summery temperatures - that was entirely to the taste of the spectators around the 24,358-kilometer combination of the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit and the Nordschleife. The lead changed no less than nine times in 28 laps of the race. In addition to the winners and runners-up Christian Krognes, Victor Bouveng and Jörg Müller in the Walkenhorst-BMW, the Audi R8 LMS from Phoenix Racing and the Porsche 911 GT3 R from the Wochenspiegel Team Manthey also collected kilometers in the lead. While the Phoenix-Audi had to give up prematurely after a technical defect on lap 25, the Wochenspiegel-Porsche came in eighth.
In the finish Uwe Alzen's advantage was 12,090 seconds on Müller. "We ended up with a bit of fuel in the end, because we were not one hundred percent sure the fuel would last for another round," Arnold said. "In the end, a fantastic victory came out. The pace in the endurance championship is huge, and before we could finish the race in a controlled manner, we had to go all in, every lap. "Alzen added," I did not want to risk anything. Even though I have taken some speed out in the end, every round in the 'Green Hell' is extremely demanding. "
Krognes / Bouveng / Müller were very satisfied with second place at the end. In qualifying on Saturday morning, Krognes took the pole position with a fabulous 7: 56,642 minutes. This is new, unofficial lap record; Official records are only driven in the race. Again, the trio with 8: 02,914 minutes drove the fastest lap of all teams. "In one lap, the BMW M6 GT3, which only debuted this year, is really fast," said Müller. "The team is now working meticulously to implement this speed over the distance. We have taken big steps forward in this respect, which is impressively demonstrated by positions two and three. "
His first top-3Result in the VLN celebrated Michele Di Martino together with Matias Henkola and Jordan Tresson. Di Martino, last year's Junior Champion in the VLN and champion in the BMW M235i Racing Cup, made the leap in the GT3 cars. "I'm so happy," said the 23 year-old. "I got used to the vehicle. Of course, there is still room for improvement, but in general, after seven races, I'm doing very well. "
Close decision in the TMG Cup, sovereign victory in the BMW Cup class
The decision in the TMG GT86 Cup was hard-fought: Nils Jung and Florian Wolf prevailed with only 0,117 seconds ahead of Manuel Amweg and Thomas Lampert of the Toyota Swiss Racing Team. All the clearer was the lead in the BMW M235i Racing Cup. Alexander Mies and Michael Schrey continue to dominate the class in a sovereign manner. In the finish, Bonk Motorsport duo 41,041 was seconds ahead of Thomas Jäger and Rudi Adams from Team Scheid - Honert Motorsport. With their sixth class victory in a row Mies / Schrey extended the league standings in the championship. With 58,44 points the lead over Christopher Rink, Danny Brink and Gabriele Piana from Team Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport is 4,79 points. Claudius Karch and Ivan Jacoma, who had dominated the V6 class for five races in Mathol Racing's Porsche Cayman R, retired prematurely for the first time this season and dropped back from second to tenth in the championship.
All photos: SB-Medien, Stefan Baldauf, Guido ten Brink