The VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring is slowly but surely approaching its final stretch. With the 35th DMV 250-Meilen Race, the ninth round of the season is the next race on the calendar. The event organised by the AC Monheim will mark a further step in the decision about the title 2011 as only the eight best results are counting for the championship classification and so the first of maximum two results will be deleted from the score of each driver. Furthermore, a brilliant grid is to be expected which will give rise to discussion in addition to the topic of the championship. About 180 cars will take the start on Saturday 15th of October, at 12 o’clock exactly, to race around the 24.369 kilometres long track, the combination of the Nürburgring short version and the Nordschleife. The race is scheduled to run over the distance of four hours. Entrance all around the Nordschleife is free. Tickets with admission to the paddocks and the open grandstands at the Grand Prix Circuit are available at the ticket boxes for the family-friendly price of 12 Euros. A 30 minutes summary of the race will be broadcasted in channel Sport1 on 19th October at 17:30hrs.
Pierre Kaffer (Switzerland) and Marco Seefried (Wemding/ Germany) will drive a very interesting and new car in class SP8 for vehicles with large engine capacities, a Ferrari F458 entered by the competitor Scuderia GT Corse. The team has recently given the Italian super sports car the nickname ‚Pinoccio’. The project is supported by Danny Pfeil (Oberursel/ Germany) who, after participations in the German Formula 3 and the Porsche Carrera Cup, finished his active driver career in the German Super Touring Car Championship in the year 1997. “We wish to offer some kind of variety in the strong Porsche scenery with this project and we hope that the fans keep their fingers crossed for this purpose”, says Pfeil. “We are excited to see what we have to expect in the endurance racing championship. Our fairy tale hero, too, had to master one or another adventure on his way to the happy end – and we will probably make similar experience in the race. It is definitely ambitious to challenge the established and successful teams with a self-built Ferrari at the Eifel circuit. But it is exactly this challenge which provides the attraction …” Whilst the F458 of the team GT Corse will make its debut in racing, another super sports car with Italian roots will celebrate its comeback. For the first time after the 24h Race, Aston Martin will enter again the spectacular V12 Zagato. The cockpit will be shared between Aston-Martin boss Dr. Ulrich Bez (Düsseldorf/ Germany), Chris Porritt (Great Britain) and the two Japanese Morizo and Akira Iida.
After only three race participations in the current season, the famous Eifelblitz-BMW of Johannes Scheid will return to the ‘Green Hell’ at the 250-Meilen Race. The car will be driven by Dirk Maier (Albstadt/ Germany), Jack Grow (Munich) and Thomas Haiser (Cologne). Amongst the strongest competitors in class GT4 are Wolfgang Weber (Vilshofen/ Germany), Rickard Nilsson (Balduinstein/ Germany) and Norbert Kremer (Krefeld/ Germany) who have scored six victories in the Aston Martin Vantage V8 entered by Mathol-Racing.
A welcome highlight in the start list will be provided by Marc Hennerici (Mayen/ Germany). The five-time VLN race winner and driver in the FIA GT1 World Championship has recently assumed the responsibility as head of the ADAC Mittelrhein sports department. He nevertheless insists on starting in the endurance racing championship. Together with Nikolaus Wegeler (Koblenz/ Germany) and Jörg Hatscher (Oldenburg/ Germany), Hennerici will drive a BMW M3 entered by Dolate Motorsport in group H. In class H3, he will have to compete amongst others against Ralf and Andreas Schall (both from Dornstadt/ Germany) who share the Mercedes-Benz 190E with Reinhard Schall (Dettingen/ Germany). End of the ninetieth, the father and son team has scored five overall wins with the former DTM race car.
Two races to go: Candidates for the title must score points
The fight about the title remains exciting. When the first of two results are now, after the ninth round, deleted from the championship score of each driver, the teams which will decide the title amongst themselves this year slowly but surely become apparent. The hottest candidates are Black Falcon (BMW Z4), Schmickler Performance (BMW 325), TKS-Motorsport (Renault Clio) and LMS Engineering (Volkswagen Scirocco). All of the four have scored many points in the races so far in the classes with the greatest numbers of competitors. All of the four, however, have also already scored two weak results so that they must achieve good results in the remaining two races to maintain their chances. The 35th DMV 250-Meilen Race will thus be very important for all the teams still wishing to gain the title. As a matter of fact, the decision in the championship will not be taken before the finale on 28th of October.
