The Opel Astra OPC Cup had a successful start in its first season at the opening round of the Nürburgring VLN endurance racing championship and managed the challenge at the ‘Green Hell’ in a brilliant way. After four hours race time at the demanding track of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Ulli Packeisen (Wuppertal/ Germany), Hubert Nacken (Steißlingen/ Germany) and Ralf Goral (Moers/ Germany) celebrated the first victory in the Astra OPC Cup. “What we have seen today makes you want to go for more. Our Astra OPC have shown a fantastic performance and all the drivers in the Opel Astra OPC Cup have presented brilliant motor sport to our many fans around the Nürburgring, with many tough battles”, says Jörg Schrott, Opel Motorsport Director.
The fastest time in practice on Saturday morning was achieved by Michael Funke (Breuberg/ Germany), Hendrik Still (Niederzissen/ Germany) and Rodney Forbes (Mühlheim/ Germany). Under changing weather conditions, the fastest race lap of 9:42.313 minutes was noted for the Astra OPC with start number 353. The driver trio was able to defend the lead in the first race laps but then dropped back into seventh overall place after a collision. Four teams were then fighting for the victory and the decision was taken in the last laps only. After several changes in the lead, the crew of Packeisen, Nacken and Goral finally dominated the strong competition. An exuberantly happy Packeisen stated: „The Astra OPC is a fantastic car, a big compliment to Opel and the team of Kissling. It is simply great that we have won this opening round.” Wolf Silvester (Nürnberg/ Germany) and Mario Merten (Kelberg/ Germany) with start number 350 were left behind and took the chequered flag with a gap of 16.792 seconds behind the winners and into second place. “Unfortunately, our strategy was not perfect in today’s race and we had to come to the pits again just before the race end”, analysed Merten their race. “Our rivals were thus able to move up closer and then even managed to overtake us just before the end of the race.” The podium at the cup debut at the Nordschleife was completed by Jannik Olivo (Berlin) and Elmar Jurek (Berlin). “The competition is extremely high and the battles were really great fun”, said Jannik Olivo. “I am sure that there will again be several teams to fight about the victory in the next races.”
A small surprise was provided by Maximilian Hackländer (Rüthen/ Germany) and Daniela Schmid (Austria). The mixed team finished in fourth position and was more than happy with their first result: “We really have a lot of respect for the well-known and experienced teams which compete in the Opel Astra OPC Cup with the target to win”, said Hackländer and Schmid added: “We are of course very happy with our fourth place and hope to be able to continuously improve our performances in the next races.”
A summary of the VLN opening round will be shown in channel Sport1 on 20th April at 10:45hrs. One week later then, on 27th April 2013, the Opel Astra OPC Cup figures the second race of the VLN endurance racing championship on the calendar.
