Fantastic result for Frikadelli-Racing: Klaus Abbelen, Sabine Schmitz (both from Barweiler/ Germany) and Patrick Huisman (Netherlands) secured a historic success at the third round of the VLN endurance racing championship, the 200th win for Porsche in the history of this popular grassroots series introduced back in 1977. “This success has a great significance for us”, said Schmitz. “We had been out today to win at any cost and we managed to do so in a superior way.” The statistical jubilee on the podium of the 57th ADAC ACAS H&R Cup race was secured by two other Porsche teams. ‘Gerwin’ and Manuel Metzger (Switzerland) finished in second place with their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of the Black Falcon Team TDM. The new driver team in the Cup eleven of the team raceunion Teichmann Racing, Marc Hennerici (Mayen/ Germany) and Christian Menzel (Kelberg/ Germany), finished third and right away on the podium, moreover they scored a victory in the Porsche Cup class. A 30 minutes summary of the race will be shown in the channel Sport 1 on 27th June at 21h15.
An exciting fight was going on in the first laps between the later winners and the Porsche driven by Georg Weiss (Monschau/ Germany), Jochen Krumbach (Eschweiler/ Germany) and Oliver Kainz (Kottenheim/ Germany), who had finished the timed practice in first and second positions respectively. The Wochenspiegel Team Manthey, though, had to finish the race already after three laps due to a collision with a lapped car. The disappointment was huge and the fact that Kainz had completed the fastest race lap with 8:18.297 minutes was only of little consolation for the team. The road was then clear for Frikadelli-Racing. The driver trio controlled the race in the leading position but then had a moment of shock 45 minutes before the race end. At a scheduled pit stop, the rear of the GT3 race car caught fire that had to be extinguished. “During the refuelling procedure, some oil at the engine block caught fire”, said Abbelen. “That was annoying since my car suffered a lack of power in my final stint, presumably due to the extinguishing powder.” The experienced Nordschleife expert kept cool and took the chequered flag after 27 laps with an advance of 46.473 seconds as race winner. “Should it come true that we are suffering an engine failure, this was an expensive victory.” His partner Sabine Schmitz, however, interjected promptly: “Maybe Porsche is going to offer us a new engine for this 200th win.” The technical staff of Frikadelli-Racing received many compliments by the drivers as they had completely rebuilt the GT3 Porsche after the accident at the 24h Race. “The car was absolutely perfect – our team is absolutely fantastic”, said Huisman.
Over the complete race distance, the second-placed Black-Falcon driver duo was fighting close duels with their rivals in the class of VLN Specials up to 4,000 cc capacity. “We knew that we would be able to finish in the leading group today”, said Metzger. “But the fights in our class are always very very close, the competition is strong. Thus we really enjoyed the race and finally scored a top result.” Frank Kräling (Winterberg/ Germany), Marc Gindorf (Monaco) and Christopher Brück (Cologne) in the second Frikadelli-Porsche crossed the finish line in third place. Due to a speeding offence in the final part of the timed practice, the team, however, received a time penalty and thus dropped back in fourth position, missing third place by 21.026 seconds. Hennerici and Menzel inherited this third podium place but their win in the Porsche Cup class was predominant for them. “The competition in our class is extremely close”, said Hennerici who had completed his first metres in the Cup eleven of model range 991 at this third VLN race. “I had to get used to the car in my first race laps and then Christian kept cheering me on the radio – the perfect motivation.” Behind the Porsche of the team GetSpeed Performance with the driver duo Adam Osieka (Meuspath/ Germany) and Steve Jans (Luxembourg) in fifth place finished the crew of Anders Buchardt (Norway), Matias Henkola (Finland) and David Schiwietz (Hückeswagen/ Germany) in the BMW Z4 GT3 of Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop in sixth place – the best placed car without the Porsche logo on the bonnet.
Top-class motorsport was not only provided in the leading group but also in the various vehicle classes. In particular the Cup classes of BMW, Opel and TMG ensure exciting races and breathtaking duels. The fight in the BMW M235i Racing Cup was decided in the last lap only and went to the Team Scheid – Honert Motorsport with drivers Jörg Weidinger (Schaftlach/ Germany), Michael Schrei (Wallenhorst/ Germany) and Uwe Ebertz (Sinn-Fleisbach/ Germany) who also went into the lead of the VLN drivers’ championship. The advance ahead of second-placed Philipp Leisen (Irrel/ Germany) and Thomas Jäger (Austria) – Jäger had started the final lap in the lead – in the Cup racer of the Team Securitas Sorg Rennsport was not more than 11.820 seconds. The fastest Opel Astra OPC Cup was driven by Robert Schröder (Oberkrämer/ Germany), Marcel Hartl (Fellbach/ Germany) and Roger Vögeli (Switzerland) of the Team Lubner Motorsport. The victory in the TMG GT86 Cup was for the second time in a row scored by Arne Hoffmeister (Niederdorfelden/ Germany) and Fabian Wrabetz (Bad Soden/ Germany). The driver duo was entered by the Team Dörr Motorsport.
The fourth round of the VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring, the 46th Adenauer ADAC Worldpeace Trophy race, will take place on 4th July and run over the traditional duration of four hours on the 24.358 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short version and the Nordschleife.
