The BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring started last week into its new season. After the long winter break and many hours of work in the team of Dörr Motorsport, they first of all entered only their spearhead for this opening race, the Z4 Coupé. Team, drivers and car all did a perfect job and they were rewarded with a class victory.
The fine spring weather caused an altogether very positive mood at the Nürburgring, in particular in the team Dörr Motorsport after the free practice on Friday: The black Z4 Coupé completed many laps around the Nürburgring and the Nordschleife without any problems, only one tyre damage caused a short interruption of their test session.
The first official timed practice of the new season again started on Saturday morning in perfect weather conditions, at 08:30hrs exactly. Race driver Marco Schelp from Berlin was the first driver on the circuit and came back to the pits after two laps to hand over the steering wheel to Luca Ludwig, the son of Klaus Ludwig. Rudi Adams was the last of the quick team to drive the car and immediately set the quickest lap time which resulted in 18th overall position and 1st place in class SP6.
Problems during refuelling, nail in the tyre
At 12:45hrs the first group took the start behind the pace car to cover the first information lap in 2009. Rudi Adams was the start driver in the Z4 Coupé and his turn was scheduled to be seven race laps. He was constantly moving up during his stint and was on the way to join the top ten overall. The experienced race driver completed his turn without any problems for driver or car. Before the driver’s change to Luca Ludwig, however, they encountered some refuelling problems and more and more competitors moved ahead of the Z4 Coupé in the classification. After their long pit stop which lasted some 14 minutes, the junior resumed the race and made an excellent pace. He, too, was signalled to come back to the pits after seven laps for a driver’s change to Marco Schelp. Refuelling went as scheduled this time and Schelp continued to catch up brilliantly after several minutes stopping time. Only one lap later nevertheless, the car of Dörr Motorsport had to proceed to a pit stop again, the reason was a nail in the tyre and thus the tyres had to be changed again. Schelp did an excellent job and again moved constantly up until the 22nd lap at the end of which he had to come back to the pits before the last four laps for refuelling. After the total of four hours race time and 26 laps, Marco Schelp crossed the finish line and scored the first class victory for Dörr Motorsport.
Race flash
Rainer Dörr, team manager: “We have completely satisfied all the expectations: 1st place in class SP6 in practice, class victory in the race. Due to the failed refuel stop which was our fault, we missed a position amongst the top ten in the overall classification. Rudi Adams and Marco Schelp have done their job as expected, competently and professionally. Luca Ludwig was really a surprise as he could almost go the pace of Adams, a brilliant performance of the rookie driver. A special compliment also to the mechanics and to all the team members. They, too, have done a fantastic job, as expected. For the next race, we will probably also have the Phantom at the start, provided that the missing spare parts will arrive in time.”
Rudi Adams, driver: „The car is really perfect and it is great fun driving it. The braking performance could be considerably improved due to the new software – and we could thus move another step forwards. All in all, the field is much closer together, especially in the top group, probably due to the new regulations. We can now fight with cars of the higher classes without any troubles. I had a lot of yellow flag situations during my stint but still managed to move up constantly. All together, I am happy although I think we could still be around six seconds quicker.”
Marco Schelp, driver: „I’ve had a fantastic turn – apart from the nail in the tyre. Towards the end of my part, I did however not want to take any kind of risks. So I tried to keep out of all close fights and simply tried to keep a constant distance to the cars behind, which I managed. I was very lucky when I had the tyre damage at the Döttinger Höhe: At a speed of 250 kph, the front left tyre lost pressure, I was able to get the car under control and to proceed to the pits to get new tyres. Not only the team has done a fantastic job during winter and prepared an excellent car, me too, I have worked a lot on my physical fitness which pays out now. I am really looking forward to the next race.”
Luca Ludwig, driver: „It is a great moment for me to score a victory right at my first race with Dörr Motorsport and in a car which is new for me. The car was simply superb. I didn’t get along very well with it on Friday but on Saturday we became ‘good friends’. I think, with my performance I have made a good job in the team and in the race. There were a lot of accidents and yellow flag situations during my turn. I could very well have pushed a little harder in some turns but I didn’t want to take any risks. My plan was to race constantly without forcing too hard and that was exactly what I did.”
