Ferrari got their first victory in VLN since 2011, when Round 3 of the Championship was run earlier today, under the title 59. ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup.
Wochenspiegel Team Monschau #22 won in a Ferrari 488 GT3 with Georg Weiss, Oliver Kainz, and Jochen Krumbach behind the wheel, and took the only second Ferrari win in the VLN history. The first one was by Farnbacher Racing in 2011 in a Ferrari F458 Italia, that was used for both VLN races and for the Le Mans Series in the GTE version. Between the races, they would rebuild the car, so it fitted the different regulations.
Wochenspiegel Team Monschau #22 was also close to the top at the Nürburgring 24 Hours one month ago, where they set the fastest time in the qualifying session, and started the race in fourth, following the Super Pole. In the race, however, they were not part of the top battle.
The #22 was battling with Manthey Racing Porsche #12 for the race win. It was however Manthey Racing Porsche #59 who has started this race from Pole Position and finished in fourth, after Land Motorsport Audi #28 had sneaked past.
The Renault R.S.0.1 driven by Dieter Schmidtmann and Heiko Hammel was part of the battle for the overall podium too. In fact they crossed the line in third, even though they had a Stop & Go penalty early in the race. Following the race finished, they received a 45-seconds time penalty, and the organizers haven’t published yet what that was for. Perhaps they didn’t take their Stop & Go penalty, but that is unclear at the moment. But fact is that they dropped from third to seventh overall.
Photo: Jan Brucke/VLN
The race was run in brilliant sunshine, but like always there is drama at the Nordschleife. First drama of the race was the FK Performance Gbr #667 BMW M235i Racing Cup car hitting the barriers hard towards the end of the Döttinger Höhe, close to top speed. There was heavy damage to the armco, which required a lengthy repair under a local Code-60.
Around Kesselchen there was a heavy shunt around 90 minutes into the race, with three cars involved. Car Collection Motorsport #34, www.clickvers.de TEAM #69 and Bonk Motorsport KG #810 all had to retire after that with heavy mechanical damage, but thankfully without personal injuries.
And then there was many more things happening here and there – but like always it’s hard to follow on the more than 20 kilometres long track, which isn’t covered with cameras all the way around at the VLN races.
The next VLN race will be run in two weeks’ time, when there is another 4-hour race on the cards.
