The intention of the team of Peeters Racing from Griesheim/ Germany was to follow up the fantastic win at the first race of the endurance racing championship at the Nürburgring (VLN). Whereas at the beginning, everything was looking very successfully they failed to make it on the podium in the end.
On Saturday, 30 April 08:30hrs, the total of 11 cars started the official timed practice of the second VLN round in class V4. All together, almost 220 race cars and team were looking forward to the qualifying and the race scheduled for this Saturday. Peeters Racing with drivers Martin Müller and Marc Peeters (both from Griesheim/ Germany) as well as Ingolf Baum (Darmstadt/ Germany) started the session in their BMW 325i early to avoid the later expected traffic. Baum who had joined the team and competed in a VLN event for the first time was the first driver in practice for the Peeters Racing Team. He improved his time set in the first lap by more than 40 seconds, an enormous step at the longest and most dangerous race track of the world, the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Marc Peeters took over the steering wheel to rejoin practice but he was heavily struggling with the dense traffic and did not find a possibility to attack the class leaders. For the moment being, the team had to be satisfied with a grid position in the middle field of class V4. Martin Müller then, the last in the team to practice, used the very last possibility to improve their start position. He completed two laps, realised that there was less traffic and proceeded to an additional practice lap which he finished with a fantastic time of 9:59 minutes so that the racing team from Griesheim/ Germany made it into second gird position in class V4.
Surprised at the beginning, then a problem turned up
Start driver Martin Müller crossed the Line at the Nürburgring Grand Prix Circuit a few minutes after 12 o’clock for the first time after the race start. Everything was looking as if he were able to use his good start position and to pull off from the other competitors in class V4 when a slower car was braking late during the entry into the first corner and cut Müller’s car in the front. A situation which the driver behind quickly used and also passed Müller. All the attempts to close the gap again to the leading cars failed. Whilst the top two did not have any traffic, Müller had to struggle hard with the traffic. His speed was however fast enough to pull away from the other competitors behind and to gain quite a comfortable advantage. After his ninth lap, Müller was instructed to come to the pits to change to his team mate Marc Peeters who, with full fuel tank and fresh tyres, continued the excellent job of Müller, secured the third position in the class but without really being able to catch up with the class leaders. At mid race, there was an increasing number of accidents around the 25 kilometres long track and Peeters could not at all find his normal rhythm which was reflected in the inconstant lap times. Peeters also completed nine laps in his stint before he changed the BMW 325i to Ingolf Baum. Baum, too, saw a lot of yellow flags and had to pass many accidents which totally spoiled the lap times for the rookie in the team. Matters became even worse when he experienced a heavy knocking in the steering in his penultimate lap. He came to the pits for safety reasons and, rather than a technical damage, the technical staff discovered a massive tyre wear on the front wheels which was the result of the fact that Baum had to leave the racing line all the time. The team dropped back from third into sixth position as a consequence.
