The BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring had a splendid start into the new season. The second round of the year, the 34th DMV 4 Hour Race organised by the Renngemeinschaft Düren will however start afresh in many respects. The driver carrousel has turned and new drivers to cause a sensation in the ‘Green Hell’ have joined the teams of Alpina, Audi, Lexus, Manthey-Racing and Volkswagen. In addition, the teething troubles which quite a few teams still experienced at the first weekend in April should meanwhile have been eliminated. The new regulations have definitely proved to provide even more suspense so that the fans already today are really looking forward to the second high-class championship event.
Amongst the celebrities to take up the challenge at the second championship round of the year are double Rally World Champion and Volkswagen works driver Carlos Sainz (Spain) as well as the sports car experienced lady race driver Vanina Ickx (Belgium). They will each compete in a Scirocco GT24 entered by Volkswagen-Motorsport. Last year, the Spanish driver called ‘El Matador’ had his first race participation at the Nürburgring Nordschleife on occasion of the endurance racing championship and the focus during the 34th DMV 4 Hour Race will be the preparation to the 24 Hour Race at the Nürburgring. “The Nürburgring Nordschleife is as unique as is the itinerary of the Rally Dakar”, says Sainz. “Last year already, I’ve had great fun in the Scirocco on this fantastic circuit, so I am really looking forward the race on Saturday.” Vanina Icks, the daughter of Formula 1 driver Jacky Ickx and living in the United States, too, knows and appreciates the Eifel circuit: “The Scirocco has attracted a lot of attention during last year’s 24 Hour Race already. I am excited about my first participation but I am sure that the car will feel well on this circuit – and as far as I am concerned, I like the ‘Ring’ anyhow.”
Also in view of the preparation for the race twice around the clock will participate the drivers Christian Abt (Kempten), Marc Basseng (Leutenbach) and Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel) in the Audi R8 LMS. At the opening round of this year’s BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring, Basseng had showed his fantastic performance in gaining pole-position and Stippler finished the race into third position in the M-Speed-Team. The pace of the R8 sports car from the car manufacturer based in Ingolstadt had already become apparent in the first championship round. Meanwhile the car was reclassified by the FIA and it remains to be seen how it will be doing now in the direct fight with Alpina, BMW, Opel, Porsche, Viper and Co. The team of Armin Hahne (Monaco) and Jochen Krumbach (Eschweiler) may even score double points on Saturday. The Porsche 911 GT3 ‘Cup S’ crew entered by Manthey-Racing in the new class GT3 (SP9) will be completed by Porsche works driver Emmanual Collard (France). In addition, Hahne and Krumbach will drive a Lexus LF-A entered by Gazoo-Racing in the category of VLN Specials up to 6.200 cylinder capacity (SP8). The quick Japanese race car had a convincing start of the season and finished with a class victory, benefiting from the bad luck of its competitors. After a rather mediocre racing start for the Alpina BMW B6 GT3, three new drivers will complete the team of Andy Bovensiepen (Buchloe) to demonstrate the potential of the green racing car. Apart from the two Germans Dominik Schwager (Eisenhafen) and Andreas Wirth (Waghäusel), Walter Csaba from Hungaria has joined the team. Regarding the new class GT4 (SP10), even four Aston Martin V8 Vantage with drivers from Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland will be at the start of the second championship round. The appearance of the British sports car manufacturer will be completed by an Aston Martin V12 Vantage in class SP8 with Aston Martin chief Dr. Ulrich Bez (Düsseldorf), Chris Porritt (Great Britain) and Wolfgang Schuhbauer (Brilon) as drivers.
A crowd of drivers at the top of the classification – six drivers sharing first position
A main requirement to finish on top of the endurance racing championship at the end of the season is a constant performance and in particular also gaining high scores – so to be successful in a class with many competitors. The Black Falcon champion team started well at the first championship round and thus laid the foundation to defend their title. Alexander Böhm (Kelberg), Sean Paul Breslin (Great Britain) and Christer Jöns (Ingelheim) relied on the quick BMW 325i in the class of VLN series production cars up to 2.500 cc cubic capacity (V4) again and were found in the lead after four hours race time. Thirteen cars started in this class, as did in class V5 (up to 3.000 cc displacement) which was dominated by Guido Wirtz (Cologne), Andreas Weiland (Bad Vilbel) and Frank Borkowsky (Mönchengladbach) in their BMW Z4. With 9.62 points, all of the six drivers are in the lead of the drivers’ classification which will probably change at the second round. According to the provisional entry list, the greatest number of points will be distributed in classes V5 and SP3 (VLN Specials up to 2.000 cc displacement).
The timed practice session of the 34th DMV 4 Hour Race is scheduled to take place between 08:30hrs and 10:00hrs. The race over four hours on the 24.369 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short connection and the Nordschleife will start at 12 o’clock. As usual, the Cup vehicles of Honda, Renault and Seat will also participate at this second round of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring.
