Slowly but surely, the end of this year’s summer in Germany is approaching. The hot final of the year 2013 is nevertheless right now starting in the Eifel region, and to be more precise at the Nürburgring. The second half of the season in the VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring will start on Saturday, 14 September, with the 36th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen. The calendar figures another four races in this most popular grassroots series in Europe which will provide motorsport at its best. In addition to the battles about each race victory, the decision in the championship is now getting closer. The fans will thus have to keep an eye on two scenarios at the same time: exciting battles about positions in the top group of these fascinating sports cars and tough fights in the strong classes in the mid-field which have provided the champions in the past. Entrance all around the Nordschleife is free. Admission to the paddocks and to the grandstands at the Grand prix Circuit will be granted upon the family-friendly entry fee of 15 euro per person; young people up to 14 years have free entrance. The start of the race will be given at 12 o’clock exactly and the positions on the grid will be decided in the timed practice session to take place between 08:45 and 10:15 hrs. The support races will include the Dutch Renault Clio Cup.
Five races with four different winning teams – no one can complain about boredom in this year’s endurance racing championship. Only the Team Phoenix Racing, which is based in Meuspath near the Nürburgring, has so far succeeded in scoring right two victories. Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel/ Germany) was able to contribute to both top results. He won the second championship round together with Marcel Fässler (Switzerland) and the third race together with Ferdinand and Johannes Stuck (both from Munich). The opening round was won by Dirk Müller, Jörg Müller (both from Switzerland) and Augusto Farfus (Brazil) in the BMW Z4 GT3 entered by BMW Team Schubert. The only victory scored in a Porsche so far in the current season saw Klaus Abbelen (Barweiler/ Germany), Patrick Huisman (Netherlands) and Patrick Pilet (France) in a Porsche 911 GT3 R entered by the MSC Adenau e.V. on top of the podium. The winners of the last race were Jan Seyffarth (Querfurt-Leimbach/ Germany), Nico Bastian (Frankfurt/ Germany) and Lance David Arnold (Duisburg/ Germany) in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of the team ROWE-Racing. With the exception of the winners of the first race, all of the previous winners will again be on the grid at the sixth round of the year – whilst the colours of BMW will be represented in the GT3 class by Uwe Alzen (Betzdorf/ Germany) and Philipp Wlazik (Gladbeck/ Germany), driving the H&R-BMW Z4 GT3, as well as by the team Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop. They all are aiming at updating their score of victories at the coming race over the traditional distance of four hours around the 24.538 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short version and the Nordschleife.
A newcomer will join class SP9 for GT3 cars at the Grenzlandrennen. GT Corse is determined to attack with the first GT3 Ferrari ever on the grid. The F458 will be driven by Pierre Ehret (Tegernsee/ Germany), Alexander Mattschull (Bad Homburg/ Germany) and Pierre Kaffer (Switzerland). It remains to be seen whether the competitive Italian super sports car will be able to cause a sensation right at its first participation in the GT3 class. One thing is nonetheless already certain – the engagement of the team around the former Alfa Romeo STW driver Danny Pfeil will provide a most welcome touch of colour in the leading group. The two sister cars will as usual start in class SP8 (VLN Specials up to 6200 cc cylinder capacity).
Fresh wind in class SP3T of the champions
Start number 1 will return to the endurance racing championship at the Grenzlandrennen. With this additional competition for the championship leaders, the new Audi TTRS2 of the current champion team LMS Engineering may considerably change the current drivers’ classification in the endurance racing championship. Last season, Ullrich Andree (Cologne) and Christian Krognes (Norway) who competed with their Volkswagen Scirocco of the team LMS Engineering in the class with the greatest number of competitors (SP3T – VLN Specials up to 2000 cc cylinder capacity with turbo) won the title. And this year again, the current championship leaders Christoph Breuer (Nettersheim/ Germany) and Elmar Deegener (Stelzenberg/ Germany) are competing with their Audi TT RS 2.0 entered by Raeder Motorsport right in this same class. The driver duo has won their class in all of the five races so far and will now have to defend their lead against the strong competitors if they want to carry on their target to win the title.
Dutch Renault Clio Cup as support race
The 36th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen will host the Dutch Renault Clio Cup this year as support race. The fast Cup race cars from the French manufacturer will compete in two qualifying races at the Nürburgring short version before the start of the VLN race. The start signal for the first race will be given already on Saturday morning at 08:05hrs whilst the second race will enjoy the spectators at the Grand Prix Circuit from 10:35hrs on. As a consequence, the VLN timed practice session will take place between 08:45 and 10:15hrs. The race will as usual start at 12 o’clock exactly.
