Engine problems on Friday caused big beads of perspiration on the foreheads of team manager Peter Matthes and technical director Andreas Matthes: To avoid the risk of a too big damage, the team would have had to leave the event without having achieved anything if there had not been a competitor which made a spare car available.
The season had started not at all promising for the Meininger Motorsport Team Matthes: In the first race of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft, the team had to retire with engine problems, holding first position in its class V2. The compensation followed already 2 weeks later at the second round when Matthes won his class V2. With a corresponding enthusiasm, the team with drivers Werner Schlehecker and Michael Jestädt then started their preparations for their next race event. At first, however, they had to undergo the compulsory performance test during which new seals should also be applied to the engine. The measuring result would have brought tears of joy in the eyes of each and every tuner, whereas Andreas Matthes had tears of rage in his eyes: The engine power was slightly above the given tolerance. It was not possible to reduce a little of the power in a rush without risking a bigger damage and all the frustrated members of the Matthes team therefore started to pack up their bits and pieces when the competitors in the person of Rolf Derscheid had the idea of how to provide practical support: The Matthes team from Meiningen just borrowed the replacement and test car of the team Derscheid! The car was picked up from the Derscheid garage in Rösrath, a new fire extinguishing system was installed and a big inspection was carried out during the night. Matthes Motorsport managed to be on time at the start of the timed practice session on Saturday morning with the car of the team Derscheid.
Hope for place four rewarded with position two
Werner Schlehecker started the practice for Matthes Motorsport on Saturday morning and completed three laps to get used to the car. However, he did not have a free lap, was slowed down again and again due to accidents and even had to take the emergency exit through the grass once to avoid crashing into the guardrails. So a fast lap in his turn was out of question. Michael Jestädt had a little more luck in his stint: He, too, set three laps, one of those was free and he was able to set fastest time. Finally the reserve car of Derscheid entered by Matthes achieved third position on the grid in his class with a time of 10:26 minutes. The race start for Schlehecker then was anything else but perfect. The widely dispersed field allowed for big gaps between the competitors in class V2 so that although Schlehecker was able to keep his position, he was hence not able to close up to the Dersheid-BMW in front of him. Schlehecker stayed calm, completed his laps and could constantly extend his lead to the cars behind. The leader in class V2 meanwhile had to come to the pits with a damaged tyre, Schlehecker moved ahead of him and into position two without being able or wanting to get into first place. When he came to the pits in the Derscheid reserve car for a driver’s change to his team mate Michael Jestädt, the gap to the following competitors was already several seconds. Jestädt was now scheduled to complete ten laps which he did perfectly and thus secured their second position. Quite easily could Jestädt control the gap to the following cars and just increased the pace a little to restore the old distance when the third placed car came a little closer. Mid-race was it already clear that a class win could only be achieved in the case the team Derscheid would retire – but no one in the Matthes team wanted this for their friends in need. The likeable team from Meiningen finally kept its second position in its third race and the duo Schlehecker / Jestädt was able to collected important points in the fight for the championship which shows the two drivers in 66th position out of almost 1.000 registered drivers.
Team manager Peter Matthes: “In the first instance, I wish to thank the Team Derscheid which rendered their unbureaucratic assistance when we really needed it. Initially we thought that with the third car of Rolf and Andrea Derscheid it would only be possible to just collect a few points. Really nobody would have anticipated that we made it into second position finally. The drivers have demonstrated that our class victory in the second race was not just due to a fast car but to their performance. They got familiar with the car very quickly and could thus set fast lap times. There is only little to say regarding the pit crew: Everybody was working perfectly, quickly and precisely. Many thanks again and congratulations to the well deserved class win achieved by the Team Derscheid!”
