The last round of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring, the 34th DMV Münsterlandpokal race, was also the last race of the 2009 season for the team of Tischner Racing. Before the start to the season final, some modifications on the suspension set-up had been carried out. Thus being well prepared, the ambitious target of Ulrich Becker and Michael Tischner was to gain another victory in the very competitive class SP5.
Four timed laps in practice and a time of 9:11.294 minutes were sufficient to achieve a third grid position in their class. “I am sure that we could have been quicker under these perfect conditions but we didn’t want to put too hard stress on the car”, informed Michael Tischner who was quite happy with this respectable grid position.
At the beginning of the race, start driver Michael Tischner was able to move up one position in the BMW M3 E46 and entered the Nordschleife circuit second in class SP5. They were not quite able to go the pace of the class leader due to permanent fights and changes of positions with the Lingmann M3. “The pole setter in SP5, Rudi Seher and Fabian Plentz, had been very quick in practice already, I think we would not have been able to go their speed even if we had had a clear track”, confirmed a fair Michael Tischner after the race.
At the end of lap ten, Michael Tischner came to the pits for a refuel stop. He remained inside the car and continued for another five laps in the Tischner Racing BMW M3 before he came back to the pits for the scheduled change of drivers to Ulrich Becker, holding second place at that moment. Becker rejoined the race with full fuel tank and fresh tyres to do the last stint and he was able to further increase the advance ahead of the third placed Lingmann BMW M3.
In his third lap, he suddenly experienced a technical problem: In the fast section of Pflanzgarten, the front left rim broke at the small jump. He completely lost control over the race car and went off the track at a speed of 160 kmph, he was sliding through the gravel and crashed into the guardrails. The race was over!
“In all the years, we’ve never had any problem with the rims, it must have been a material defect or perhaps even a material fatigue”, was the analysis of team manager Matthias Tischner after the retirement. Ulrich Becker added: “It is a pity that our good second class position was not recompensed and that we got this technical failure!”
Despite the retirement, Michael Tischner had some comforting words: “Our modifications on the suspension again were a step into the right direction, we were even able to set our personal fastest lap time in class SP5 in this race.”
A detailed inspection of the accident damage was carried out in the workshop at home and it turned out that the damage was not as big as originally expected. The car is already completely dismantled, including the engine, for revision.
Tischner Racing will compete in the endurance racing championship next year again and also start at the highlight of the season, the 24h Race at the Nürburgring.
