The hard times for the master baker are over. In the eighth round of the 2011 VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring, Karl Brinker finally achieved his first victory of the season in the Renault Speed Trophy. Second place was gained by Elmar Jurek and Jannik Olivo who thus scored some more very important points for the VLN championship. A change in the usual list was provided by the Roadrunner Racing-Team that finished into third place with a new car.
In brilliant autumn weather, solo driver Karl Brinker entered by the Vulkan-Racing-Team Mintgen Motorsport demonstrated in practice already that one must well have an eye on the fast baker from Herne/ Germany. Brinker achieved second grid position and thus had a perfect starting point. In the early stage of the race, Brinker then went into the lead and crossed the finish line after about four hours as winner in class Cup3. “The car was great and my team has done a brilliant job. A wonderful overall performance”, said Brinker happily who had scored his last win in the Renault special classification as part of the VLN series in 2010.
Whilst the ‘Brötchen-Clio’ superiorly completed lap by lap, there was a tough fight about positions going on in the group behind. “We entered the corner Fuchsröhre side by side”, said Jannik Olivo of the team TKS-Motorsport with a smile in his face. He finished into second place together with his team mate Elmar Jurek. They were all the more happy as not everything was running perfectly for Olivo all the time. “I went off the track at the section Schwalbenschanz and had a slight crash, whereupon the car was not longer very straight.” Even though Jurek and Olivo are not hundred percent happy with their second place, they were able to score valuable points for the VLN overall classification with their result.
The team of Roadrunner Racing was particularly happy. The team had prepared a new Renault Clio during the past weeks which was now for the first time used in a race. “We are very happy that the car was running so well today right away”, said team manager Udo Huppertz. Right after the start the Roadrunner Clio of Jürgen Peter and the ‘Rennsemmel’ went into the lead but then had to let Brinker as well as the Clio of Jurek and Olivo pass. The team thus finally finished into third place in the Renault classification. Udo Huppertz had a big smile all over his face. “A brilliant success for the whole team!”
Sabine Amweg and Chirstof Stadler finished their last race of the current season in place 16. After a heavy accident, the two Swiss drivers, too, had a new Renault Clio at the start. Amweg’s summary: “I still had our collision in the sixth race in my mind and so I took it easy at the start. I absolutely wanted to bring the car to the finish without any damage and we managed to do so. We had a really very good timed practice. I realized that we have the potential.” Due to lack of time, Amweg and Stadler will rejoin the series and come back to the Nordschleife next year only.
Schlaug Motorsport had a tough programme. The team participated in the eighth VLN race and in the final of the Renault Clio Cup Bohemia season in Brünn, all on the same weekend. Team manager Manfred Schlaug explained: “This is of course a very particular challenge for the whole team.” Bad luck had the car driven by Peter Utsch and Frank-Dieter Lohmann and serviced by Schlaug as the team had to retire from the event due to technical problems in the timed practice session. The car driven by Karl Raab and Werner Frei, too, had to stop early. At least solo driver Rolf Weißenfels into 16th place finally scored a result for the Schlaug team.
In the lead of the Renault Sport Speed Trophy are Jannik Olivo and Elmar Jurek with 168 points. Second position was defended by Dominik Brinkmann and Stephan Epp who follow with 159 points. The top three are completed by Jean-Jacques Meyer and Uwe Kleen with 125 points. The next round of the VLN endurance racing championship will be the 35th DMV 250-Meilen-Rennen to take place on 15th October 2011.
