Nobody will forget the fifth round of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring in a hurry. In bright sunshine, the drivers in the 'Green Hell' offered motorsport at its best: three brands on the podium and vehicles from four different classes within the top 6 - that was just what the audience wanted. The run also produced five new winners: Uwe Alzen (Betzdorf) and Dominik Schwager (Munich) won the 47th ADAC Barbarossapreis in the Ford GT. When it was first used in the current season, Jürgen Alzen Motorsport's black super sports car was the measure of all things under the H&R Spezialfedern application. The Ford GT was unbeatable in its last outing on the Nordschleife, the 2014 final. At the finish, the lead over second-placed Dominik (Ansbach) and Mario Farnbacher (Lichtenau) was 14,592 seconds. The pair of brothers achieved first place on the podium in only the second run of the new Lexus RC-F GT3. Michela Cerruti (Italy), Jesse Krohn (Finland) and Felipe Fernándes Laser (Leipzig) proved that they are not a flash in the pan. The trio in the BMW Z4 GT3 from Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop came in third. A 30-minute summary of the race will be shown on August 1 at 8:17 p.m.
Starting from pole position, Nordschleife specialist Uwe Alzen took the lead in the field. Overall, he and brother-in-law led the classification in 17 of 28 rounds. The leadership changed six times over the four hour distance. The victory was never endangered on the track. Two penalties imposed by the race management ensured that things got really tight in the end. Alzen received a stop-and-go penalty due to the fact that the first pit stop did not meet the minimum standing time; due to a speed violation in a slow zone, 95 seconds were added to the journey time. The comfortable lead of the Ford duo was doubly important, because Schwager reached his limits with a double stint. At the finish, the Munich man had to sit for a few minutes to take a deep breath. "I was still in the car," he said. "But I was already happy that I was not involved in a duel and that the race was relatively easy to drive home." Uwe Alzen was satisfied with his eleventh victory: "Nobody expected that - we are absolutely happy."
The Farnbacher team achieved a great success - the first podium for an Asian automobile manufacturer since the season finale in 1979. "We are a little surprised ourselves, but very happy," said Mario Farnbacher. “After the premiere at the last race, we gave Lexus extensive feedback and the technicians implemented all of our requests. We also drive the remaining five VLN races - maybe there is even a little more. "
After their first win in race four, the Walkenhorst team was happy to be on the podium again. "We had no chance against the Ford GT today," Laser admitted. “After an accident in the Kesselchen section of the track, I was in the final phase with a damaged front section and could not fully attack the Lexus in front of us. Nevertheless, we are very satisfied. We have developed a very good setup and our tendency continues to point upwards. ”
Dominik Baumann (Austria), Anders Burchardt (Norway) and Maximilian Sandritter (Raublingen) took fourth place behind the leading trio in another BMW Z4 GT3, used by the BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert. Christoph Breuer (Nettersheim) and Le Mans winner Nick Tandy (Great Britain) came fifth in an SP7 Porsche from Manthey-Racing, ahead of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR from Wochenspiegel Team Manthey with drivers Georg Weiss (Monschau), Oliver Kainz ( Mayen) and Jochen Krumbach (Eschweiler). The first six positions in the overall classification went to vehicles of classes SP-X, SP9, SP7 and SP-PRO.
The unofficial title of the half-time champion goes to Dirk and Tim Groneck (both Melle), the champions of the 2013 season. With their Renault Clio they celebrated the fourth class victory in the VLN specials up to 2.000 cc (SP3). The lead over the second-placed Arne Hoffmeister (Niederdorfelden) and Fabian Wrabetz (Bad Soden), who also triumphed for the fourth time in the TMG Cup class, is 0,65 points. Despite more participants in the class - in the endurance championship, the drivers receive the most points that most drivers among their peers - the Toyota duo was unable to take the top position. The VLN Junior Trophy is led by Timo Hilgert (Rheinböllen), who, together with Christian Büllesbach (Königswinter) and Andreas Schettler (Baden-Baden), took second place in the V4 class in the Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport BMW Z5. The Dutchman Stefan van Campenhoudt, who celebrated his third victory as a soloist in the V4 class, is in the VLN production car trophy.
The sixth round of the year, the 38th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen, takes place on August 22nd.
Cover picture: Self-service media, Stefan Baldauf