The team of Schirra Motoring very much enjoyed the first race of the endurance racing championship at the Nürburgring. Both MINI took the chequered flag at the 58th ADAC Westfalenfahrt and finished into first and third positions in their class.
Schirra Motoring had entered two MINI race cars in class SP2T for the start of the season at the Nürburgring. The two MINI which were specifically developed for endurance racing were driven by Friedrich von Bohlen/ Harald Grohs/ Markus Oestreich (start number 344) and Friedrich von Bohlen/ Nils Bartels/ Markus Oestreich (start number 345). The debut of the team which will this year again be supported by Alpecin, the well-known hair care product of the cosmetics and pharmacy company Dr. Wolff based in Bielefeld/ Germany, was running well but not without problems.
The first race of the year in the Eifel region took place in real summer weather. The sun was shining and the temperatures were very agreeable. The track was nevertheless still wet in the morning practice but the conditions improved during the 90 minutes session. The practice, however, was already over for start number 344before the final part of the session. The crew of von Bohlen/ Grohs/ Oestreich had suffered a wheel bearing damage and had to be satisfied with position 84 overall and 3rd in their class. The practice for start number 345 in contrast was running as scheduled. Von Bohlen/ Bartels/ Oestreich finished the practice with their MINI into position 25, they gained pole position in their class and started in front of the third starting group.
The race started according to schedule for Schirra Motoring. Van Bohlen (345) took advantage of the good grid position and was clearly leading his class whilst also catching up in the overall classification, but Oestreich (344) had to start his fight about positions from the back of the field. After a few laps, both MINIs were found in the lead of their class and amongst the top 40 overall. Despite an unscheduled stop of almost ten minutes, von Bohlen/ Grohs/ Oestreich could celebrate a class win and position 34 overall. Due to a drive shaft which had to be replaced in car 345, von Bohlen/ Bartels/ Oestreich dropped back into third class position. The fastest race lap that day was achieved by Oestreich in car number 344 with 9:05,490 minutes.
Friedrich von Bohlen (Heidelberg/ Germany): „This was a good start of the season although we suffered a few smaller problems. The victory further motivates us to improve some details and thus the performance.”
Markus Oestreich (Petersberg/ Germany): „The cars have become even better during winter. Unfortunately, we were not able to fully use the potential of the MINI today, but that will certainly come.”
Harald Grohs (Essen/ Germany): „I am really happy with the class win. It is always great fun for me to race at the Nordschleife with the MINI.”
