The 51st ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup is more than just the third round of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring. The first two championship races have helped to determine the position of the top teams in this unique racing series at the Nürburgring Nordschleife amongst their competitors. The forthcoming event organised by the AC Altkreis Schwelm now is the general rehearsal for the 24 Hour Race and the drivers’ last opportunity for testing before the classical 24 hours endurance race at the “Green Hell” under racing conditions. The programme will be topped-off with the ACAS Touring Car Revival for which a great number of former DTM race cars will return to the Nürburgring Nordschleife to complete three demonstration laps on Saturday morning. No motor sport fan should miss this combination of historic and modern racing competitions. Particularly also as the features through which the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring has become the most popular racing series in Europe during the last 33 years will be pursued: free admission around the Nordschleife and family-friendly ticket prices for the open paddocks and the grandstands at the Grand Prix Circuit – real and living motor sport.
The entry list of this final round before the 24 Hour Race includes top-class competitors to fight for the overall victory. The Audi works team with the two entrants Abt-Sportsline and Phoenix-Racing will bring four Audi R8 LMS to the start. All the great and famous drivers of distinction from amongst the team of the manufacturer based at Ingolstadt will be competing. Racing celebrities such as Hans-Joachim Stuck (Austria) and Frank Biela (Monaco) will race for the ‘four rings’, just like the current DTM Champion Timo Scheider (Austria), the double Champion and make colleague Mattias Ekström (Sweden) and Mike Rockenfeller (Switzerland) or the Nordschleife experienced Marc Basseng (Leutenbach) and Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel). The R8 LMS presented this year is prepared in accordance with the GT3 Regulations and recently demonstrated its performance impressively with a second place at the 34th DMV 4 Hour Race in which Lance David Arnold (Duisburg) and Christian Mamerow (Castrop-Rauxel) celebrated the first GT3 overall victory with their Porsche 911 GT3.
The triumphal procession of the FIA Sports Cars which take part in the endurance racing championship for the first time this year has started. This is however not a reason for the teams who continue to take part in race cars according to the 24h Specials Regulations to bury their heads in the sand. Competition is good for business, as is well-known, and Alzen-Motorsport, Manthey-Racing, Schmitz/Abbelen (all on Porsche 911 GT3 RSR), Kissling-Motorsport (Chevrolet Corvette), Bäder/Hagenmeyer (BMW Z4 M Coupé) and Aston Martin (V12 Vantage) do not even think of lamenting. The performance of the GT3 cars is much more a challenge to further develop the existing concepts as the ‘Specials’ are not subject to the FIA classification ‘Balance of Performance’ defined for a complete season. New this year is also the GT4 class according to the SPR Regulations with their first appearance at the 51st ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup. For the first time, Jörg van Ommen (Sinzig) will bring the Audi TT to the start, prepared in compliance with the regulations for close-to-production vehicles. In addition, a number of Aston Martin V8 Vantage will fight for the class victory.
Strategy, strong classes and the project ‘defending the title’…
The Champion Team of the season 2008 is in the lead of the Championship this year again after two rounds. Christer Jöns (Ingelheim), Sean Paul Breslin (Great Britain) and Alexander Böhm (Kelberg) scored two class victories in a row in their BMW 325 of the Sartorius Team Black Falcon in the class of VLN Series Cars up to 2.500cc cylinder capacity. Although class V4 of the trio was not the strongest one at the last race in relation to the number of competitors, the choice of the race car, and thus of the competitors, seems to be just perfect. The number of the competitors in the class of series cars up to 3.000cc cylinder capacity is indeed higher, but it looks as if the closeness in performance is higher as well so that it is much more difficult to achieve class victories in a row. The team from the Eifel Region may however not rest on its laurels and can in particular not afford an ‘off’. In the endurance racing championship victories in a row are mostly more important than individual successes in strong classes.
A delight for the fans: the ACAS Touring Car Revival
The organising AC Altkreis Schwelm has this year again come up with something very special. In 2007 already, the lap on the Nordschleife completed by Formula 1 star Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber F1.06 during the ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup caused a lot of excitement and was extremely well received by the spectators. There will be another historic event on the programme for 2009. More than 30 former DTM race cars of Alfa Romeo, BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Opel and Rover will return to the ‘Green Hell’. Unforgotten are the exciting fights of the spectacular competition touring cars during their support races of the 24 Hour Races in the eightieth and ninetieth. During the three demonstration laps between the timed practice and the race of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring, the fascination of the old days will come up again. The well-preserved DTM racing cars can also be admired in the paddocks. At 13:15hrs on Friday already, there will be a big autograph signing session with the past and the present heroes.
