Six of the eight rounds of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring ended in the SP10 class with an Aston Martin Vantage V8 victory. In the ninth race of 2016, however, two extraordinary newcomers emerged. And they made a debut that was impressive. The two KTM X-Bow GT4s with Christopher Haase and Arne Hoffmeister as well as Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck literally drove the competition away and celebrated a remarkable result with the 16th and 17th place in the overall classification after four hours.
“It was really great how we flew around the track together. I hope it looked as good on the outside as it felt in the car! The X-Bow is a super-fast car and it's a lot of fun, "says a happy Hoffmeister who, with his Isert Motorsport team-mate Haase, laid the foundation for the later class win in qualifying. In front of the Stuck brothers in the sister car, used by the True Racing Team, they put the Nordschleife newcomer on pole position. "Especially in the rain it was good to be able to drive more or less freely at the front," said Haase, who started the first stint on a wet road and found an equal opponent in Ferdinand Stuck.
A final decision in the fight for the class victory was the early pit stop of the Stuck brothers. On the drying track, they wanted to drive better times as early as possible, but the team from "Isert Motorsport" decided that starting driver Christopher Haase would stay outside a little longer should.
When the drivers were swapped in both cars after around two hours, the two X-Bows fought a thrilling duel. 20 minutes before the end, the Stuck brothers seemed to be able to claim the class victory for themselves. However, due to the earlier first tire change and the associated earlier refueling, you had to go to the pits for a short “Splash & Dash” - and lose your possible premiere victory at the last minute. “That was a great start in the rain! I got away well and then found a good speed on the drying track. With the slicks on the car, I had a nice fight with the sister car, "reports Ferdinand Stuck and his brother adds:" When I got in, Ferdi told me I could go full attack. I did that, ran into the sister car after three laps, but initially couldn't find a way past. When I finally made it, I had to pit. "