The 17 competitors in the New Renault Clio Cup which is part of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring provided a thrill until the finish line at its eighth championship round. After exciting battles, Karl Brinker gained back the lead in the Renault championship classification and scored his third class win in class SP3. He was followed by Axel Linther and the duo Henry Walkenhorst and Michael Schrey.
Only two races to remain until the end of the season and everything is still open in the New Renault Clio Cup. Two spins in the first lap and fascinating duels with the heavily attacking rival Axel Linther could not stop Karl Brinker who drives for the team Ring-Racing. With his third class victory in class SP3, the 50 years old race driver also gained back the lead in the championship of the New Renault Clio Cup which had been taken from him by Elmar Jurek and Jannik Olivo from Berlin. “Simply perfect. That was my greatest race”, said the Ring-Racing driver happily after the 8th round of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft which had 187 cars at the start of the race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The two solo drivers as well as the spectators very much enjoyed the close battles between him and Axel Linther during the four hours race about the Barbarossapreis organised by the MSZ Sinzig. “It was a hard but fair fight”, confirmed also Linther enthusiastically. “From the second refuel stop, I had some problems with the fuel pressure”, explained the driver from the Minthgen team.“ Just before the end of the race, he came back again to the pits as current leader to refuel and thus lost first position. “However, we had to be on the safe side, lastly, we wanted to finish the race”, said Linther who finished third also in class SP3.
The team Walkenhorst, too, was happy after the 8th round in the endurance racing championship with its third place in the Renault classification and the fourth position in class SP3. Henry Walkenhorst and Michael Schrey had shared the cockpit and enjoyed a great race. “Altogether, it was perfect”, was their summary. The previous leaders in the Renault classification, Elmar Jurek and Jannik Olivo, had to come to an unscheduled pit stop due to a broken tie-rod end and lost too much time to be classified. They are now back into second place of the championship classification. A fantastic race had Ring-Racing driver Jacques Meyer who finished fourth together with his co-driver Kurt Ecke. “I managed to pass two Clio competitors just before the refuel stop. I am more than happy with place four”, said Meyer with a smile in his face.
Knut Wolf in contrast, who is holding third championship position together with Marc Beckord, but this time raced alone, lost valuable championship points finishing only 18th. “Everything went wrong today”, informed the driver of the team Schlaug after he had to come to the pits several times. Right after the start he damaged his oil sump when he tried to avoid a collision with the spinning competitor in front of him.
Bad luck also for the racing team drive-a-racecar. The team had taken over the “Champion-Clio” from the brothers Benz only a few days ago and they prepared it in a record time for the race. However, the race at the Nordschleife was finished for drivers Michael Trick, Werner Gloyna and Stefan Winckler already after only a few laps. Winckler was involved in an accident, spun across the track and the car crashed into the guardrails several times. Their team mates Gunther Gühne, Rolf-Peter Ihlenfeldt and Jürgen Peter in the old Clio finished into 16th place.
Team manager Karl-Heinz Teichmann was enthusiastic with his premiere in the New Renault Clio Cup. The experienced touring car driver started the race at the Nordschleife together with Michael Schneider for the first time in the Clio. The complete package Renault MotorSport offers with the New Renault Clio Cup had convinced him. “Everything is perfect”, said Teichmann.
To the same conclusion came Champion Mathias Schläppi, the team manager from Switzerland, who has already won the New Renault Clio Cup in the ADAC-Procar. His drivers Nicolas Abril and Stig Näs as well as Holger Goedike and Stefan Hüsler finished eighth and ninth respectively, with the duo Karl Raab and Sebastian Lhomer ahead in seventh position, as well as Frank-Dieter Lohmann and Peter Utsch in sixth place. The drivers of the Schlaug team Werner Uerecht, Michael Brüggenkampp and Franck Haack finished this endurance racing championship round of the New Renault Clio Cup in 13th position, Markus Lüscher and Hanspeter Muster in 15th. Xavier Lamadrid, Mark Donaldson and Max Girarda became 20th.
Uwe and Theo Kleen together with Klaus Völker driving for the Ring-Racing-Team started the race for the first time in a newly prepared Clio. They wanted to use the touring car as test car – and finished the first “test to discover teething troubles” in advance.
