15 seconds were missing to a class win
The crew of Jana Meiswinkel (Wilnsdorf) und Ernst Berg (Prüm) had already scored one class win in this year’s VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring. At the 50th Reinoldus Langstreckenrennen, the fifth round of the season, everything was running very well again for the fast mixed duo from the Siegerland region. They only lost the class win at the hottest race of the year because the race was stopped ahead of schedule.
If the old stagers of the Nordschleife speak of “summer in the Eifel region”, they normally think of air temperatures of around 15°C and of fog which is less dense than in spring and autumn. At the fifth round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft 2010, however, the weather gods provided a literally hot ‘Green Hell’ for the participants! At eight o’clock in the morning already, when the race day started half an hour earlier than usual due to the World Cup, the thermometer showed temperatures of more than 20°C. The formula at this early time of the day hence was to spare energy for the long race day. Ernst Berg, too, started his obligatory lap in the Ford Fiesta ST, equipped with Hankook tyres, with this intention before Jana Meiswinkel completed a quick lap and achieved pole position in class SP2 with a time of 10.14 minutes.
They started the race when the temperatures had meanwhile gone up to 31°C and began a hot chase with Ralf Martin, start driver in the Lauderbach team, around the almost 24.4 kilometres long ‘roller coaster’ circuit in the Eifel region. “Unfortunately, both tyres and brakes got too hot so that I had to slow down a little”, said the 22 years race driver after her turn. But it was not only the material, the driver, too, came to her limits with 70°C in the cockpit: “We were not able to open a window or remove it which would have been allowed. Our windows are additionally glued in and so we just had to sweat it out.” Ernst Berg also informs after the finish: “I have been competing in endurance racing since 14 years but never experienced such an extreme race.”
Despite the extreme conditions, the race saw an exciting battle between the two top Fiestas in the class. Towards the end of the race, no more pit stop was scheduled for the small “shooting star” whereas the leading Lauderbach race car did not have enough fuel on board to finish the race and would have had to refuel once more before the race finish. It then suddenly started to rain – typical for the Eifel region – and the race was stopped after a heavy accident in the leading group. “It was difficult with the slick tyres but we could have finished the race. The marshals have done a very good job and indicated the rain clearly and early”, informs final driver Berg who thus also criticizes the crash driver.
Due to the classification at the end of the penultimate lap before the end-of-race signal, the ATM-Motorsport Ford Fiesta ST finally missed their second class victory of the season by 15 seconds but anyhow achieved a team internal record with their 58th overall position, which will remain effective at least until the 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen. Whereas the participation in the sixth round on 17th July is not scheduled for the team, they intend to start at the highlight of the season on 31st July.
Hinweis: Der Text ist eine Mitteilung von "ATM-Motorsport". Der Inhalt spiegelt nicht die Meinung der Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring wieder.
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