Increase in almost all of the classes

It is a well-known fact that the start lists in the VLN endurance racing championship many times provides surprises so that boredom at the ten races taking place every year at the 24,358 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short version and the Nordschleife is a foreign word in this series. This applies for the third round of the 2014 season as well. The organising club AC Altkreis Schwelm announces an increase in almost all of the classes at the 56th ADAC ACAS H&R Cup race this weekend. More than 190 cars – so the estimated figure of the VLN original member – will take the start at the \’Green Hell\’ on Saturday 26 April at 12 o\’clock exactly. The experience long distance racing is free of charge all around the Nordschleife. Access to the open grandstands at the Grand Prix Circuit and to the paddocks, starting grid included, will be granted at the family-friendly entry fee of 15 euro per person. Young persons up to the age of 14 years have free entry. Tickets will be available at the day cash boxes on-site.

The most famous participant in the 56th ADAC ACAS H&R Cup race will be extreme sport athlete Felix Baumgartner. The Austrian, who has caused a sensation with his parachute jump from the stratosphere in 2013, has a new objective for this year: the 24h Race at the Nürburgring. On occasion of the VLN test and set-up session end of March, Baumgartner has collected first experience at the Nordschleife in a race car. He made his racing debut at the Qualification Race 24 Hours and showed a considerable performance. Baumgartner who will be competing in this third VLN race of the year together with Pierre Kaffer (Switzerland) in the Audi R8 LMS ultra of the team Audi race experience will now for the first time have to manage the dense traffic in the \’Green hell. The more than 190 cars racing at the Nordschleife is an absolutely new situation for him.

The two newcomers in class GT3 from Japan and Italy will provide a fresh wind in the top group. Alex Buncombe (Great Britain) will drive the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 entered by the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN. The huge Asian race car is the complete opposite of the fragile-looking Ferrari F 458 Italia GT3 which was entered by the Team GT Corse by Rinaldi in class SP9. The super sports car from the South of Europe and driven by the Nordschleife experienced drivers Alexander Matschull (Bad Homburg/ Germany) and Marco Seefried (Wemding/ Germany) shall be established in the GT3 class. The driver trio is completed by Arturo Devigus (Switzerland) who made his debut in the VLN at the finale of the season 2013 in an SP7-Porsche. In addition to its engagement in the GT3 class, GT Corse will bring another F458 in the class of VLN Specials up to 6250 cc cylinder capacity to the start. The cockpit in this car will be shared by (Kaiserslautern/ Germany), Andrea Barlesi (France) and Stephan Köhler (Dreieich/ Germany). Competition from their own camp will be provided by Christian Kohlhaas (Andernach/ Germany), Carsten Struwe (Monaco) and Markus Lungstrass (Leichlingen/ Germany) for whom another F458 has been entered by the team of racing one. The crew has already achieved two second places in the first two races of the season. The competition in class SP8 will be at least as tough as it sounds illustrious: Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Lexus LFA and Lexus IS-F.

Two cars which will hardly be involved in the fight for the victory should furthermore be mentioned as they are not less interesting. The Nissan 350Z with start number 52 will be driven by Massimiliano Fissore and Bruno Balocco and the crew in the Seat Leon Supercopa (start number 220) will be made up of Marco and Mariano Costamagna. Both cars have at least one thing in common – they are driven by liquid petrol gas. The teams are coming from the environment of the ‘Green Hybrid Cup’ which was hosted once last year at an event of the VLN endurance racing championship. The Cup responsible enjoyed their guest appearance so much that they decided to now also compete at the Nordschleife with their race cars with alternative drive.

The VLN Cup classes of BMW, Opel, Porsche, Renault and Toyota will also again be strongly represented at the third VLN round. With the total of more than 50 cars – BMW, Opel and Toyota will provide double figure grids each in the provisional start list of the H&R Cup – the spectators around the Nordschleife may again look forward to exciting motorsport. Fighting for positions with identical material is the basis for the fantastic and close battles within the Cup classes. The normal classes of the VLN specials and production cars will, however, also provide competition at its best. The partly already mentioned exotic cars will try to challenge the front-runners in the top positions. The variety in the starting grid with cars from 23 different manufacturers, more than 450 drivers from 26 different countries – just one week after Easter, the Nürburgring Nordschleife will again be the stage for a great show.

The start to the four hour race will be given at 12 o’clock exactly, on Saturday, the 26th April. The positions on the starting grid will be decided in the timed practice taking place previously between 08:30 and 10:00hrs. A 30 minutes summary of the race will be shown in channel Sport1 on 3rd May at 12:00hrs.