Nobody would probably have expected that right at the very first participation of the Opel Astra OPC, Sönke Glöde (Stadtallendorf/ Germany), Dennis Näher (Leisel/ Germany) and Benjamin Palubitzki (Albstadt/ Germany) showed a very convincing performance and came very close to celebrating a class victory. The trio of the dmsj Youngster-Racing-Team finished second in class VT2 with their race car entered by Kissling Motorsport and took the chequered flag as 103rd overall amongst the 203 starters.
“I must say a big thank you and pay a big compliment to everybody in the team who has contributed to this success”, said team manager Christopher Bartz bringing the facts to the point. “All of our drivers as well as the whole team around Stefan Kissling and Gerhard Diel have done a perfect job.” Eberhard Kuhna, special advisor for the dmsj Youngster-Racing-Team and attending the event on-site, too, was enthusiastic about the performance of the team. “This makes us look very much forward to the ADAC 24 Hour Race. We are on the right way.”
“Kissling Motorsport is super”
It was after qualifying already that all of the three drivers were totally happy with the about 250 HP strong Opel Astra. “The handling of the car is very good and we are also happy with the engine power”, said the trio unanimously and they added: “Here, in the team of Kissling Motorsport, you get an answer to each and every question and that is really great.”
Debut as start driver
Sönke Glöde started the race. „I have never been the start driver, so it was time now”, said the 20 years old race driver. “I had a very good start and tried to keep some distance to the traffic in front of me. Right in the very first lap at the section Fuchsröhre, cars were already lapping and I had to pull of a lot. But even if you have to leave the racing line with the Astra for a moment, we still have enough power to continue pushing. All in all, it was great fun and I was also able to pass many other cars.”
Moment of shock in the section “Kesselchen”
The only moment of shock during the weekend was experienced in the middle stint of Dennis Näher. “Just in front of the corner at the section “Kesselchen” where you need all your courage, all of a sudden a Renault Clio pulled over to my side where actually there was hardly any place”, explained the 19 years old youngest of the youngsters. “I went off onto the grass with all four wheels and the car was very much sliding around. Fortunately, I got control of my car quite quickly. I would never have thought that this heavy series production car developed its engine power on the race track so well and that it is also superior regarding top speed compared to a “proper” race car such as a Renault Clio or a BMW 320i.”
Close battle for the class win
When Benjamin Palubitzki took over the steering wheel after lap 12, he was quite surprised when all of a sudden he saw the class leader ahead of him. „The Scirocco had got a problem and I found myself with a gap of only nine seconds behind him. Due to an inconvenient seat position, however, I got sick and lost about 20 seconds per lap. It was a great race but my seat needs to be changed for next time!” After four hours race time, Glöde/ Näher/ Palubitzki finished second only 2:43,774 minutes behind the class winner.
Timing crash course
Christian Schmitz, fourth in the youngster team, was, as scheduled, not entered for this race. „I was mainly staying at the pit wall and took care of the timekeeping for our Astra“, explained the 20 years old race driver. “Gerry Diel explained everything to me and gave me some valuable information. I learned a lot and saw the VLN series from another side.”
Brilliant cooperation
“We have already had a lot of very good rookie projects, but these four youngster are on a very high level already”, said the happy Kissling team manager Gerhard Diel. “I have the feeling that the four youngster are learning very quickly also about the importance of team sport. A big compliment for the cooperation so far!”
The next round of the endurance racing championship Nürburgring will take place on 14th May. The race will run over the distance of six hours. For the last time, the dmsj Youngster-Racing-Team will enter the Honda Civic Diesel of the Motorsport Akademie Nürburgring for this race.
