Pole-Position, class win and 17th overall position: The season of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring finished more than satisfactorily for the race&event-Team. “This was a fantastic year considering that we finished with a sixth victory out of eight participations”, said team manager Martin Mohr. “We are really looking forward to the 2011 season!”
After four hours race time, Heinz Schmersal (Wuppertal/ Germany) and Stephan Rösler (Lichtenfels/ Germany) took the chequered flag as winners in the category of Specials up to 3500 cc (SP6). “The whole weekend was simply great and very successful”, said Rösler. “The only point is that I should have changed my tyres earlier when it started to rain at the end of the race. I came in one lap too late so that our rivals were able to move up a little. At this point, I wish to say a big thank you to our hospitality manager Marion for her super arrangements during the season!”
A moment of shock in practice
Heinz Schmersal went off into the gravel at the NGL chicane. „There was a group of cars which were apparently on their slow down lap. I have no idea why they did not pull of to the edge of the track or why at least they are not using their mirrors. I went off into the gravel to avoid a collision.” Stephan Rösler was only disappointed about his spoiled lap time: “On my fastest lap, I was unlucky as yellow flags were shown from the Hohenrain chicane down to after start and finish. I was slowed down behind a much slower car.”
The 43 years old race driver from Franconia in Germany completed the first and the last turn and was able to slowly move away from his competitors. Heinz Schmersal had to proceed to a stop-and-go penalty in his middle stint. “Apparently, Stephan made a mistake at the beginning of the race when he passed an accident in the section Hatzenbach”, explained Schmersal. “Thus, I lost the lead in the class for a while. But it was also great fun to fight my way up again, I passed the Porsche and was back in the lead.”
Cup-Porsche retired due to an accident
Uwe Kolb (Bad Homburg/ Germany) and Eckhard Geulen (Bonn/ Germany) had to stop the race in the race&event-Porsche GT3 Cup in the 21st lap due to an accident. At first, Kolb had a tactically clever race whilst Geulen in the middle stint gained about 30 positions overall. “Then I lost control behind the former mill just before the end of my second stint when it started to rain and I was still on slick tyres. I crashed into the guardrails”, informed Kolb. “That is not an enjoyable end of the season, but it is most important that there was no personal damage. I really enjoyed my first season and am looking forward to the year 2011 in this fantastic team!”
Eckhard Geulen was very happy with his middle stint. “It was really great fun and I was able to gain a lot of positions with lap times of just above nine minutes. It’s a pity that we had to retire but that just may happen, in particular when it starts to rain.”
