In a unique effort of the team ahead of 235.000 enthusiastic spectators, Kissling-Motorsport scored a class victory at the ADAC 24h Race Nürburgring despite an engine change. “We feel one with Opel” was the slogan for drivers Marco Wolf, Stefan Kissling, Heinz-Otto and Jürgen Fritzsche. The quick team thus sent out a signal of solidarity with the car manufacturer from Rüsselsheim which is in a precarious business position. The team spirit and the strong willingness not to give up unify the Opel workers and Kissling-Motorsport as it should turn out later in the race.
After a strong performance in practice and an even stronger race start of the team, not even an engine change could stop them. The Opel drivers already had gained a brilliant advance of eight laps when they got misfirings after engaging a wrong gear and the engine had to be changed. The unit was replaced in the record time of 54 minutes and when the Opel Astra GTC rejoined the race, they still had an advance of two laps in their class. The further running of the race clearly showed that the Kissling team had done a perfect job in the engine change despite the time pressure. At its fourth participation in the 24h Race, the Opel underlined for the third time the winning potential of the combination of drivers, car and team.
