The last of ten races in the VLN endurance racing championship 2015 will take place on 31 October. The Nürburgring will open its doors for the big final. On the 24.358 kilometres long combination of the Nordschleife and the Grand Prix Circuit short version, it will come down to last remaining race. It has become a tradition that the organiser of the 40th DMV Münsterlandpokals distributes a delicious ham for all class winners and the overall winner, in addition to the usual trophies. For some this will represent a special attraction, for those who are still aiming at a clear target, a nice extra. And with regard to the latter category, there is still a number of teams at the VLN final. Finally, the decisions in the BMW M325i Racing Cup, in the Opel Astra GTC OPC Cup and in the VLN Championship remain to be taken. Close duels and exciting racing action is guaranteed when the drivers at the Ring will demand record performances from their cars at the ‘Green Hell’. One of those is the team with Christian Menzel and Jeroen Bleekemolen, who support the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus.
The finale of the VLN endurance racing championship will provide a premiere. For the first time, a TCR car will be at the start of the 40th Münsterlandpokal. The TCR Regulations are based on the Seat Cup, introduced this year with the TCR International Series 2015 to take place worldwide. The TCR Regulations are considered to become as successful as the GT3 Regulations and they promise spectacular motorsport at reasonable costs. VLN chief representative Karl Mauer: “I am really delighted that we are able to welcome the first TCR race car at the Nürburgring. This vehicle category will become very important for the VLN in the future.” The father-and-son teams Michael and Sandro Marsani as well as Axel and Max Friedhoff will make the debut for the Seat Leon Racer at the Green Hell. In particular the fathers, Axel and Michael, have a huge experience at the Nordschleife and are counted amongst the race campaigners in the VLN.
The fight for the overall victory, however, will also be very close. It would be the first title for the Farnbacher brothers, Dominik and Mario, in the Lexus RC-F GT3. They missed one race in the VLN after having previously gained some recognition with their results achieved with the new development of the Japanese – one pole position and one second position. For Lexus and Farnbacher Racing this an unexpected successful season which would be crowned by a victory at the final. James Glickenhaus, nevertheless, would also absolutely like to finally receive the crown. Once again, he has entered his two SCG003C manufactured at his own design for the Nürburgring event. The two extravagant race cars shall this time not only attract attention due to their design and the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus has for this purpose contracted famous drivers for their cockpits. GT specialist Jeroen Bleekemolen will thus for example make his debut in the SCG003C and take up the chase around the circuit together with Manuel Lauck and Frank Mailleux. The sister car will be driven by Nordschleife experts Thomas Mutsch and Christian Menzel together with Jeff Westphal. Menzel has already competed for the team of Glickenhaus in 2011. At the season final in 2011, he was driving the N.Technology P4/5 Competizione.
Whilst Dutchman and former DTM driver Renger van der Zande in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Car Collection Motorsport also wishes to fight for the win together with Kenneth Heyer and Indy Dontje, another race driver from the Benelux countries pursues a totally different target in his BMW 325i. The Belgian Stefan van Campenhoudt would like to defend his lead in the championship and become the first international VLN Champion. His closest rivals, Dirk and Tim Groneck in their Renault Clio are only 0.07 points behind and will, on their part, take all efforts to gain the championship again after 2013.
When the big final will be started after the timed practice (08h30 to 10h00) at 12 o’clock, there will be more close battles about every centimetre on the track within the Opel Astra OPC Cup. In addition to the cup leaders Jari Nuoramo / Juha Hannonen and Daniel Bohr, three more teams still have the chance to gain the title in this category. The leaders in the BMW M235i Racing Cup are Michele Di Martino / Moritz Oberheim and Ralf Schall / Mario Merten, both teams with equal numbers of points.
So the VLN finale 2015 indeed fully deserves this title. Many pending and close decisions will provide the spectators with the possibility to share the excitement with the drivers out on the track.
