Manthey-Racing has won the 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen ‘Um die Pokale der Opel-Werke Bochum” for the third time in a row. After 6:02:06.889 hours racing time in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, race winner Marc Lieb took the chequered flag shown by Michael Hey, Managing Director of the Bochum Opel factory. At the end of this sixth round of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring, the race driver from Ludwigsburg, together with his team mates Marcel Tiemann (Moncao) and Arno Klasen (Karlshausen), has completed 39 laps on the 24.369 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short connection and the Nordschleife – which corresponds to a total distance of 950,391 kilometres. Into second place followed Marc Basseng (Leutenbach), Frank Biela (Monaco), Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel) and Hans-Joachim Stuck (Austria) in the Audi R8 entered by Phoenix-Racing with a gap of 5:05.894 minutes behind. Oliver Kainz (Kottenheim) and Frank Schmickler (Rösrath) became third in their GT3-Porsche entered by Mühlner-Motorsport
”This was the day of the team which has made the fewest mistakes”, said Klasen happily after this 21st victory in the endurance racing championship. “Despite the difficult conditions, we have managed to finish the race without any damage on our Porsche. Marc in particular had an excellent stint in the rain.” First of all, the Raeder trio in the Ford GT dominated the race on a still dry track. When the weather conditions became increasingly worse after a few laps, Dirk Adorf (Hennef), Thomas Mutsch (Bitburg) and Hermann Tilke (Aachen) lost ground and their lead. Just before five hours racing time have elapsed, the team then had an accident at the section Pflanzgarten and the race was over for them. Raeder-Motorsport, however, had achieved pole position and the fastest race lap (8:20.701 minutes) again. So the fans still have to wait for the first victory of the spectacular GT3 race car which had its debut in 2009 and became straightaway the spectators’ favourite in the field. The Audi team which had won the previous round of the championship had to be satisfied with the second place at this highlight of the endurance racing season. “The first turn was extremely difficult and we lost a lot of time in the first half of the race”, informed Basseng. “Although we managed to recover at the end, we had no more chance to really move up to the Manthey-Porsche.” Local hero Kainz celebrated his first place on the podium in the Porsche. “I am very happy with this result, in particular if you consider that the drivers which have finally beaten us are really celebrities”, he said.
After another impressive performance in the Cup-Porsche, Uwe Alzen (Betzdorf), Lance David Arnold (Duisburg) and Klaus Rader (Munich) missed their chance to gain third position. After six hours racing time and 38 completed laps, final driver Rader crossed the finish line. According to the endurance racing regulations, the chequered flag is shown to the race leader when the scheduled racing time has elapsed. So the Alzen-Porsche would have had to do another complete lap on the circuit, including the Nordschleife. At the end of the short connection, though, Rader by mistake came to the pits. He did thus not complete the last lap made up of the short connection plus the Nordschleife as stipulated in the regulations and the team was consequently not classified. “It’s a pity, as for the third consecutive time, we have again had another fantastic race”, said Arnold.
Rolf Derscheid and Michael Flehmer are the new championship leaders
After this sixth round out of ten races in the 2009 season, Rolf Derscheid (Much) and Michael Flehmer (Overath) have moved up into the championship lead. In their BMW 316 iS entered by the MAX Wahlscheid, the team has scored a fourth victory in the class of VLN production cars up to 1.800 cc cubic capacity. The champions of 2008, the Sartorius Team Black Falcon, now follow into second position. Alexander Böhm (Kelberg), Christer Jöns (Ingelheim) and Sean Paul Breslin (Great Britain) achieved their fifth class win in the VLN production cars up to 2.500 cc cubic capacity. Marco Wolf (Lohmar), Jürgen and Heinz-Otto Fritzsche (both from Hückeswagen) currently are third in the championship. The Kissling trio was for the second time successful in the class of VLN Specials up to 2 litres.
Erick Samayoa, Juan Pablo Diaz and Agustin Casse Marimon from Guatemala celebrated their result at the 6h Race almost like the overall winners. They completed 29 laps at the “Green Hell” in their BMW 325i. “That was a fantastic experience”, said Casse Marimon happily at the finish. “The Nordschleife is a worldwide unique circuit and we will definitely come back next year to race at this extraordinary track.”
The most popular endurance racing series in Europe will now start its well-deserved summer break. The next race on the calendar of the 2009 season and the seventh round of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring is the 32nd RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen organised on 29th of August by the Rheydter Club für Motorsport.
