The fifth round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring will go down in history. The victories gained in the race of the first half of the season are split up amongst teams driving race cars from five different car manufacturers. In the 35 years of history of this most popular endurance racing championship in Europe there had never been such a great diversity in the top teams and the winners as this year. The 51st ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen was won by Mattias Ekström (Sweden), Timo Scheider (Austria) and Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel/ Germany) in their Audi R8 LMS entered by Phoenix-Racing. At the first four races of the season, models of the makes BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Porsche had been on top of the podium. The winners of the fifth round took the chequered flag with an advance of 1:31.954 minutes ahead of second placed Sabine Schmitz and Klaus Abbelen (both from Barweiler/ Germany) in a Porsche 911 GT3 R. The top three were completed by the team of Wolfgang Kohler (Aldingen/ Germany), Frank Kräling (Winterberg/ Germany) and Christian Menzel (Kelberg/ Germany) in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entered by Manthey-Racing. Due to rain and hail in the section Flugplatz, the race was stopped with the red flag twelve minutes before the official end which was scheduled for 4 p.m. A 20 minutes summary will be shown on 15th June at 7 p.m. in the TV channel Sport1.
The pole position in the timed practice was gained by Schmitz/ Abbelen who set a lap time of 8:20.161 minutes. The race, however, was from the first metre dominated by the Phoenix Team which had started from second grid position. “Finally my first victory at the Nordschleife”, said Ekström happily. “The ‘Green Hell’ is always something outstanding. I had competed in quite a few races here already but never made it in top of the podium. I am this very happy and I am highly motivated for the 24h Race in two weeks time.” His team mate Schneider added: “Matthias and I had the opportunity today to gain routine at the Nordschleife in the R8 and I tell you, we did use this opportunity. So it was particularly nice to also win here.” Abbelen, too, was more than happy with his position on the podium. “It is a really good feeling to be on the podium again. We have taken a big step forwards this year the performance of our Porsche is really good.” Menzel agreed with the decision of Race Control: “I was just at the Line when the race was stopped. I would have liked to continue in the rain, too, but on the other hand, it was totally ok to stop the race.” The trio scored a class win in the Porsche Cup race cars for the third consecutive time. “You must have a good, continuous pace”, said Menzel. “It’s the result you have achieved in the end which counts.”
Behind the two Porsche Cup drivers Stefan Rosina (Slovakia) and Jakub Giermaziak (Poland) finished Akira Iida, Kazuya Oshima and Hiroaki Ishura (all from Japan) with the new Lexus LF-A into fifth position. The top eight were completed by three further Cup-Porsche, which were Martin Ragginger (Austria) and Stefan Wendt (Papenburg/ Germany) followed by Mathias Lauda (Austria) who made his debut at the Noreschleife together with Christian Engelhart (Kösching/ Germany) and Andreas Mayerl (Austria) into place seven. Jörg Otto and Peter Becker (both from Grevenbroich/ Germany) became eighth. A surprise was provided by Maik Rosenberg (Attendorn/ Germany), Christian Krognes (Norway) and Emin Akata (Friedrichshafen/ German) with their Volkswagen Scirocco who finished ninth and as fastest team in class SP3T (VLN Specials up to 2000 cc cylinder capacity with turbo).
The fastest VLN standard production car was driven by Mario Merten (Nürburg/ Germany) and Wolf Silvester (Nürnberg/ Germany). The two drivers won class V5 (VLN standard production cars up to 3000 cc cylinder capacity) with their Bonk BMW. The race in group H was dominated by Andreas and Ralf Schall (both from Dornstadt/ Germany) with their Mercedes Benz 190 E.
Kappler / Hennes / Gerling went into the championship lead
The half-time champions of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring are Thomas Kappeler (Bad Saulgau/ Germany), Harald Hennes (Eschweiler/ Germany) and Thomas Gerling (Uchte/ Germany). After their third win in the class of VLN Special up to 3000 cc cylinder capacity, the BMW crew went into the championship lead, followed by Wolfgang Weber (Vilshofen/ Germany), Norbert Bermes (Krefeld/ Germany) and Rickard Nilsson (Balduinstein/ Germany) who, after four consecutive class wins, this time finished into second place only with their Aston Martin Vantage of the team Mathol-Racing in the class GT4. In the lead of the junior classification after five of ten races is Nicole Müllenmeister (Wermelskirchen/ Germany) driving the Opel Astra OPC of Kissling Motorsport together with Jürgen and Heinz Otto Fritzsche (both from Hückeswagen/ Germany). Amongst others with a second and two third places, the team has continuously scored points in the strong class of VLN Specials up to 2000 cc cylinder capacity.
The sixth round of the year, the 34th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen organised by the Rheydter Club für Motorsport e.V. DMV, will take place on 30 July and run over the distance of four hours. A number of team will previously take part in the ADAC Zurich 24h Race. The chase twice around the clock will take place at the race track in the Eifel region from 23rd to 26th of June.
