In the final race of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring, which could not have been more exciting, the VLN Honda Junior-Team with Dennis Nägele, Kristian Nägele and Tim Scheerbarth scored the third place in the tv14 Honda Civic Cup 2009 – and the lap record achieved by Dennis Nägele was the icing on the cake after a successful season.
“That was really a very good year for us. We just missed the title, but we can nevertheless be very happy as the performance of the whole team was absolutely strong”, commented Tim Scheerbarth their third overall position in the tv14 Honda Civic Cup 2009 happily. The decision was taken only a few laps before the race end when the VLN Honda Junior Team was slowed down by a car to be lapped and lost contact to the leading group. Up to that moment, all of the three teams which were still fighting about the championship title had been involved in very close fights and were chasing each other around the Nürburgring at distances of only a few centimetres. The juniors were heading at the title for a long time.
“Dennis, Kristian and Tim have done a brilliant job, they had a good start and even improved their performance during the season“, said Christian Kuhnke, Technical Director of the team of the Cologne University of Applied Science. “In particular Tim was in excellent form today and could further improve his times considerably, and Dennis ‘en passant’ set the lap record for the Cup version of the Honda Civic. The performance of the three was really impressive.” “I am pleased to return this compliment”, answered Dennis Nägele. “The team of the Cologne UAS Motorsport is really working professionally. If you only consider the brilliant and extremely quick pit stops – at our first stop, the mechanics worked so well that our gap of 15 seconds was reduced to 5 seconds.”
The Managing Director of the organising body VLN, too, was very happy: “The organising VLN is very glad about the successes of the VLN Honda Junior Team during the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring 2009. We are convinced that our intention to promote young motor sport people over several seasons was the right strategy to get this group into the endurance racing championship. We hope that in 2010, too, we will have the opportunity to carry on our engagement to support young racing drivers.”
Honda Motor Sport Co-ordinator Andreas Mansfeld: „Like every year, the team of the UAS Cologne and the drivers have continuously improved during the season and, during the last races, became as quick and as reliable as their competitors Totz, Kreuer, Nett and Dupré who can look back onto 20 years of experience in motor sports. To compete at same level with these experienced teams is a fantastic performance and the third place in the tv14 Honda Civic Cup – only beaten by a very tight margin – is hence to be evaluated as a victory.”
Jan Derenbach, UAS Cologne Motorsport: „We were a little unlucky to miss the title – but we can very well live with it. Two victories and eight places on the winners’ podium is a very impressive result for a project with newcomers. A great thank you to VLN, to Honda, to BFGoodrich and to all the other partners who have made this possible! Frank Totz and Peter Kreuer have deserved the title, we had some tough, but always fair fights with them – and we could celebrate together after the race. Warmest congratulations to the team Totz!”
