The sky above the Nürburgring Nordschleife was literally blue and white: BMW was the dominating brand at the 58th ADAC ACAS H&R Cup. Schubert Motorsport did not have to wait long before they were able to celebrate their first victory with the new BMW GT3, it was their third participation in a VLN race only. After four hours race duration, Jörg Müller, Marco Wittmann and Jesse Kron crossed the finish line first and their team mate Lucas Luhr, Martin Tomczyk and John Edwards, finishing second, made the one-two win perfect for the Schubert team. The podium behind the works-supported M6 GT3 was completed by the privately entered car of Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop and driven by Christian Krognes, Victor Bouveng and Tom Blomqvist who became third. After one of the fastest VLN race ever, the winners completed 28 laps at an average speed of 170.260 km/h, Alexander Mies and Michael Schrey who were the winners in the BMW M236i Racing Cup went into the lead of the VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring.
“A perfect race”, said Jörg Müller. “The car was running without any problems.” This had not been the case in the previous VLN races in which the new GT3 from the Munich brand had not been able yet to use its potential to the full extend. “Compared to the previous model, the Z3 GT3, this car has a clearly longer wheelbase which has a very positive effect on the handling. Moreover, the M6 engine is an absolute sensation”, added Müller. BMW works driver Lucas Luhr made it clear, however, that the race was not just a walk in the park. “Everything may have looked so easy from the outside but inside the car we really had to give everything”, he said. “We were pushing right from the start of the race as we really wanted to know the potential of the new M6 GT3.“
The one-two-three win for BMW had never been in danger but the distribution of the positions on the podium was not clear until the very last metres. The winners made it with a razor-thin advance of only 0.382 seconds at the finish. Changes in the lead occurred almost exclusively within the three BMW crews. The only exception was the Audi R8 LMS of Markus Winkelhock, Christopher Mies and Christian Mamerow who, in lap eight, moved into the lead for one lap. The Phoenix trio finally took the chequered flag in fourth place. The top five were completed by the fastest works Porsche 911 GT3 R with Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki behind the steering wheel. The fastest Mercedes-AMG GT3 was driven by Stefan Mücke, Ranger van der Zande and Christian Hohenadel who finished seventh for the AMG-Team HTP-Motorsport.
GT3-Rookie Tom Blomqvist celebrates first podium result
DTM star Tom Blomqvist can look back onto a steep learning curve. The son of rally legend Stig Blomqvist competed in his only second race in a GT3 race car last weekend at the third VLN round. Previously, the 22 years old race driver from Great Britain had successfully competed in two races, the VLN season opener and the 24h Qualification Race, to obtain his DMSB Permit Nordschleife grade A. “That was indeed a very important experience for me”, said Blomqvist. “The Nordschleife is a unique race track and to experience this circuit in the BMW M235i Racing Cup was very instructive for me.” He was absolutely happy with his first result in the podium: “I am proud having scored such a good result so early – fantastic. Walkenhorst is a very professional team and I am part of a perfect team to learn more and to increase my performance continuously.”
Change in the championship lead
There was a change in the championship lead after the third VLN race. As the two GT3 drivers Frank Stippler and Anders Fjordbach, with two wins in two races so far the championship leaders, were not at the start, Alexander Mies and Michael Schrey of the Team Bonk Motorsport now took over the lead and moved into first place in the table. After an exciting fight with Thomas Jäger and Rudi Adams (Team Scheid – Honert Motorsport) in class Cup5, Mies and Schrey celebrated a third class position in the BMW M235i Racing Cup. Two more teams in championship positions two and three also successfully achieved this brilliant feat. Dominik Thiemann, Hajo Müller and Jens Riemer won the class of VLN production cars up to 3,000 cc cylinder capacity (V5). With their Porsche Cayman S, Claudius Karch and Ivan Jacoma became first in class V6 (VLN production cars up to 3,500 cc cylinder capacity).
A 30 minutes summary of the 58th ADAC ACAS H&R Cups will be shown in channel Sport1 on 21st May at 21:30 hrs.
The fourth round of the VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring will take place on 24th June. The 47th Adenauer ADAC Deutsche Payment-Trophy will run over the traditional four hour duration.
