“We have arrived at the top tier of touring car sports at the Nordschleife”, says Marc Roitzheim full of pride. 2017 will be the first season for him and his Team Ahrtal-Motorsport to compete in the VLN endurance championship Nürburgring. The ambitious amateur team from Grafschaft nearby the Nürburgring will right away be competing with two cars in two different classes.
Step by step did Marc Roitzheim come closer to his dream VLN. The 29 years old made his debut in 2010 when he participated in his first regularity run at the Nordschleife. “That was a condition to get familiar with the track, to complete many laps and to adjust the cars onto the circuit”, he says.
The first big success then followed in 2012: Ahrtal Motorsport secured the title in the RCN Light right away. In the coming years, the team then competed with up to three cars and alternating drivers in the Circuit Challenge at the Nürburgring. In this series, too, they were quite successful, Ahrtal-Motorsport regularly scored top positions in the respective classes.
In 2016, Roitzheim took the next step and took part in his first VLN race – a true test for driver, team and race car. “The competition in the VLN is very close“, he says and adds: “But we are happy to take up the challenge. The VLN is a very professional series, this is racing at a really high level.”
Roitzheim has tasted blood and took an important decision together with his team: “We will start in the VLN in 2017!” They used the winter break to prepare themselves and the two cars carefully to the new tasks. And now, at the opening of the season, they can be found on the entry list: Marc Roitzheim and Uwe Petersen with their BMW 325i in class V4 as well as Gilbert Moedebeck and Markus Unkhof with the BMW M3 in class V5.
“The test and set-up session was very promising, the cars are running perfectly”, says the team director. “In particular the E90 which is new for us did not cause any problem throughout the complete day.” Roitzheim nevertheless remains realistic: “We will start from the bottom again. But we are ready for the new challenge VLN. And who knows, we may annoy the big established teams in the corresponding classes a little bit now and then.” The main sponsors of the team, PMPG as well as Jonas Werbetechnik und Druck would definitley be pleased.
