27.10.2009

Grand final after an exciting season

The 34th DMV Münsterlandpokal – also called ‘Schinkenrennen’ (‘ham race’) by insiders in the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring – this Saturday concludes the 33rd season of the most popular endurance racing series in Europe. Contrary to the other races, the organising MSC Münster will not only award the highly appreciated winners’ cups to the overall and class winners but also an original Westphalian ham. Nobody wants to miss this and the start list at the season final is hence made up of a colourful mixture of well-known experts at the Nordschleife, the welcome returnees and some prominent guest starters. Famous names such as Claudia Hürtgen, Vanina Ickx, Gianni Giudici, Tim Schrick and Johannes Stuck are only representative examples for all the drivers in the more than 180 teams which will make the hearts of the fans beat faster at the season final. The timed practice, in which the positions on the starting grid will be determined, will take place between 08:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and the Münsterlandpokal race over the distance of four hours will start at 12 o’clock exactly. All the fans are again cordially invited to join the most successful drivers in celebrating the final of the 2009 season at the prizegiving ceremony in the ‘Eifel Stadl’.

Claudia Hürtgen (Aachen) will return to the endurance racing championship in a BMW Alpina GT3. The Champion of the year 2005 will share two of the vivid green race cars with Stian Sorlie (Norway) and Andreas Wirth (Waghäusel). Johannes Stuck (Liechtenstein), too, will join the season final. The youngster will drive an Audi R8 LMS entered by Phoenix-Racing, together with his father Hans-Joachim Stuck (Austria) and Dennis Rosteck (Porta Westfalica). Their sister car will be driven by Frank Biela (Monaco), Marc Basseng (Leutenbach) and Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel). Former DTM driver Gianni Giudici has also been entered in class GT3. The Italian shares the steering wheel of the Dodge Viper entered by the Vulkan-Racing-Team Mintgen-Motorsport with his country fellow Andrea Perlini and the two regular drivers Dirk Riebensahm and Christian Kohlhaas (both from Andernach). Former DTM driver Vanina Ickx will once again race at the Nordschleife, in a team with Patrik Chaillet (both from Belgium) in a Seat Leon Supercopa. The team Schrick around TV moderator Tim Schrick is confident to finish their first race participation at the Nordschleife in the Aston Martin successfully. After technical problems at the 24h Race, the technically updated British super racing car will have its first test at the ‘Schinkenrennen’.

There is also a number of interesting combinations of drivers amongst the experienced teams which have been competing in the complete season of the endurance racing series and which may well provide some surprises at the ‘Schinkenrennen’. The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR entered by Manthey-Racing will be driven by regular driver Marcel Tiemann (Monaco) and Porsche works driver Emmanuel Collard (Switzerland). The crew in the Ford GT entered by Raeder-Automotive will be made up Dirk Adorf (Hennef) and Thomas Mutsch (Bitburg) whereas Hermann Tilke (Aachen) will be missing this time. Johannes Scheid, too, will take up the challenge again at the end of the season. After the BMW M3 ‘Eifelblitz’ had to miss two races due to an accident, Duncan Huisman (Netherlands) and Marko Hartung (Wallroda) will now participate again in the last race of the year.

The new champions will be honoured at the ‘Schinkenrennen’
Alexander Böhm (Kelberg), Christer Jöns (Ingelheim) and Sean Paul Breslin (Great Britain) have left their marks on the 2009 season of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring. With eight victories in the class of VLN series cars up to 2.500 cc cylinder capacity (V4), the trio of the Team Black Flacon secured themselves the title in advance at the ninth round already. Last year’s champion Böhm and his team will thus go down in history as it dates back to 1996 and 1997 that Dirk Adorf succeeded last time in defending his title. From the perspective of a team, it was even in 1994 and 1995 that Scheid-Motorsport as team succeeded in defending its title. Black Falcon did not only defend its title in the overall classification but automatically also in the class of VLN series cars. In addition, the promising and talented newcomer Jöns won the VLN Junior Trophy for the second consecutive time. The team from Kelberg in the Eifel region will receive the official Champion’s cups at the 34th DMV Münsterlandpokal race and allow itself to be celebrated by the fans.

Rolf Derscheid (Much) and Michael Flehmer (Overath) wish to secure their second position in the championship this Saturday. The duo has achieved seven class wins with their BMW 318 iS in the highly competitive class of VLN series cars up to 1.800 cc cylinder capacity. The two hobby racing drivers have always done their best during the season and finally failed only because the number of competitors in their class (V2) was not quite as high as in class V4.