The TMG GT86 Cup is as competitive as hardly any of its VLN counterparts in the 2016 season. Again and again, new teams made an appealing performance on the Nürburgring Nordschleife and took over the top of the Cup classification. In the ninth round, the penultimate of the year, but now seems a small preliminary decision fell: For the third time in a row achieved Manuel Amweg and Thomas Lampert the finish line as the first of the Toyota pack, celebrated the fifth class victory of the season and now have 17 points on their worst rivals, Nils Jung and Florian Wolf, lead.
The relief was great in the pit of the Toyota Swiss Racing Team when the TMG GT86 Cup with the starting number 535 was flagged as the winner after 23 laps. In the last two laps of the four-hour race, the onset of rain demanded everything from the drivers, especially on the Grand Prix track. "But we already had enough lead and I was able to finish the race in a controlled manner," said Manuel Amweg, who had taken over the final stint.
Already at the start, the team was safe in view of the still wet track. "Looking at the overall standings, we decided to start the race with rain tires. But because the road dried off rather quickly, we changed to dry tires early after just one lap. Looking back, this time we did everything right and the drivers did a good job, "said team manager Hannes Gautschi with satisfaction.
Nils Jung was not that satisfied after the race. “Unfortunately we couldn't keep up with the top of the Cup in the early stages of the race. We lost a lot of ground in the process. In the second half of the race we were able to make up a lot again, but Amweg / Lampert had already rushed out of the way. ”However, all is not lost for Jung / Wolf and the Ring Racing team. A maximum of 20 points can be won at the season finale on October 22nd. However, only one retirement would prevent the Swiss from receiving the TMG GT86 Cup after ten VLN races.
Achim Wawer and Eric Curran from Mathol Racing have nothing to do with the overall standings, as Wawer Anfang competed in the VLN for the first time. All the more surprising that the duo made it onto the podium, third place, straight away. "The guys really did a good job", praised Alexander Fielenbach from the Mathol Racing team organization.