The 54th ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen which shall take place on 5th July 2014 will conclude the first half of the VLN endurance racing championship season at the Nürburgring. The race organised by the Dortmunder MC e.V. im ADAC will run over the traditional four hour distance and is the first VLN round after the ADAC Zurich 24h Race. Due to the short distance after the traditional long distance race, the number of cars on the grid will be a little lower than before in the first races. The VLN teams which participated in the race twice around the clock did not have more than two weeks’ time to recover and get prepared for their next VLN race. There is, however, no reason for the true fans of the series to worry as the quality will not decrease. About 150 cars will take the start on Saturday at noon and race around the 24.358 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short version and the Nordschleife. All around the Nordschleife, the spectators may enjoy the action free of charge. Access to the open grandstands at the Grand Prix Circuit, including a visit to the paddocks and onto the starting grid, will be granted for the family-friendly price of 15 Euro per person. Young people under the age of 14 have free entry. Tickets will be available at the cash boxes on-site. More information all around this most popular grassroots series in Europe is available in the internet on www.nuerburgring-langstrecken-serie.de.
Four race – four different winners. There is a good balance of performance after the first four races of the VLN endurance racing championship. Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz share the trophies amongst themselves. These GT3 race cars will definitely also be the favourites to finish in the top places at the fifth round of the year. The BMW Z4 GT3 entered by H&R Spezialfedern will be driven by Uwe Alzen (Betzdorf/ Germany) and the fast Dutchman Yelmer Buurman. Another guest start will be presented in the Frikadelli-Team by Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel/ Germany) who will support the regular drivers Klaus Abbelen, Sabine Schmitz (both from Barweiler) and Patrick Huisman (Netherlands) in the driver quartet. Dennis and Marc Busch (both from Bensheim/ Germany) will keep up the flag for Audi and try to achieve another excellent result with their R8 LMS ultra. In addition to the two BMW Z4 GT3 of the team Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop, the Ford GT3 driven by Jürgen Alzen (Betzdorf/ Germany) and Dominik Schwager (Munich) as well as the Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 of GT Corse by Rinaldi will contribute to the variety of makes in class SP9. And this tendency is carried forward in class SP8 (VLN Specials up to 6.250 cc cylinder capacity). This class equally includes exotic race cars with two Ferrari F458 and two huge Lexus ISF with the Aston Martin V12 Vantage and a privately prepared Audi R8.
Strong competition also apart from the top group
Two true idols of the public will for the first time this year add to the show at the fifth round. Andreas and Ralf Schall (Dornstadt/ Germany) will finally again bring their Mercedes-Benz 190 E to the start. And with Jürgen Freiburg and Norbert Kraft (both from Hagen/ Germany), the Volkswagen Corado will have its comeback at the ‘Green Hell”.
At the end of the first half of the season, a strong competition can also be expected in the Cup classes. The provisional entry list includes 13 Opel Astra OPC, 6 Porsche Carrera, 8 Toyota TMG GT86, 9 Renault Clio and finally 11 BMW M235i Racing. The make cups within the VLN endurance racing championship provide exciting and thrilling motorsport as the drivers are competing with identical material at eye level and have to fight for each and every tenth of a second out on the track.
Who will be the half-time champion?
After four of ten races Rolf Derscheid (Much/ Germany) and Michael Flehmer (Overath/ Germany) are leading the championship with their BMW 325i entered by the MSC Wahlscheid. The experienced driver dup has gained four class wins and with the total of 38.05 points their advance ahead of Max Partl (Pyrbaum/ Germany) and Jörg Weidinger (Happurg/ Germany), who are entered by the Team Scheid-Partl Motorsport with a BMW M235i Racing Cup, is only 2.14 points. The second-placed team on their part do not have more than 0.42 points ahead of Frank Kräling (Winterberg/ Germany), Marc Gindorf (Monaco) and Christopher Brück (Cologne), driving a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Into fourth place follow Karsten Quadder (Solingen/ Germany) and Stefan Kniesburges (Pulheim) in a Ford Focus. They have scored their 13 successive class victory at the fourth VLN race and thus equalized the existing record set by Dirk Adorf (Hennef/ Germany) and Harald Thönnes (Mülheim-Kärlich/ Germany).
Breath-taking kart action in the supporting programme
The fifth VLN round will host the European Superkart Challenge as supporting event. The up to 250 km/h fast racing karts will have two races, the first one on Saturday in the late afternoon at 16:30hrs and the second one on Sunday and the organising Dortmunder MC will organise a motorcycle long distance race at the GP circuit on the day after the VLN race. The positions on the starting grid will be decided in the qualifying taking place previously between 10:30 and 10:50hrs. The VLN time schedule will not be affected by these events. The VLN timed practice will take place as usual between 08:30 and 10:00hrs and the 4 hour race will be started at 12 o’clock exactly.
Public Viewing in the ring°boulevard
Even though motorsport is of course the most enjoyable minor matter of the world – people are currently captured by the World Cup of Football. Nobody will however have to miss the quarter final on Friday evening between Germany and France as the game will be broadcasted live at the ring°wall in the ring°boulevard. The kick-off will be at 18:00hrs and refreshments will of course also be served.
