The ninth round of the VLN endurance racing championship at the Nürburgring finished with a bang for Renault MotorSport . About 90 minutes before the race end, the TKS drivers Elmar Jurek and Jannik Olivo who were on target for the championship had to retire after a collision which was not their fault and their hopes for the VLN title were dashed. The classification in the Renault Sport Speed Trophy was then won by the team Roadrunner Racing.
After a little more than one hour race time, the ninth VLN race was stopped with the red flag as several independent accidents had occurred. The re-start was given at 14:57hrs and Elmar Jurek took the re-start to the second part of the race in the TKS Renault Clio from pole position. The drama which should have a significant impact on the VLN championship then came after the total of eleven race laps. “Two of the top cars had a close fight about positions. I pulled off in a fair way but one of those nevertheless heavily crashed into my car during this manoeuvre”, explained a disappointed Jurek.
After so many ups and downs and a nerve-racking race it was clear that all the dreams for the title were now spoiled. “It is incredibly sad and we can hardly express how disappointed we are. Even though it will be hard, we will get up again and continue to fight. Maybe we’ll better succeed next year.” Renault project manager Tobias Hütter said: „The TKS team has done a brilliant job until the very last moment. We are tremendously proud that a Renault Clio was able to fight for the title. This underlines how popular and successful our Clio now is in the VLN.”
The victory in the Renault Sport Speed Trophy was then gained by Jürgen Peter and „Rennsemmel“ in the Roadrunner Racing-Clio. The driver duo had a perfect race and made to the finish without any problems despite the difficult conditions. Starting from second grid position, they quickly went into the lead but then had to see the faster TKS Clio move ahead. “We had no chance at all”, said Jürgen Peter. “We finished into first place due to the retirement of Elmar and Jannik. The victory is a really great success even though we feel vey sorry for the sudden accident of the TKS team”, informed Peter. Into second place finished Dominik Brinkmann and Stephan Epp in the Renault Clio entered by Sesterheim Racing. The top three were completed by the drivers of the team Steibel Motorsport, Meik Utsch and Tobias Schulze.
A welcome change was provided by the Vulkan-Racing Team Mintgen Motorsport which had for the first time entered a Renault Mégane RS in class VT2. Don Draper and Axel Linther shared the cockpit and finished the race without making any mistakes. So the Renault Mégane RS had a perfect start of its racing debut as was also confirmed by Axel Linther: “This was our first time at the Nordschleife with the car this weekend. Considering this, everything was running perfectly. Even though we still need to work a little on the set-up, we are on the right way.”
Things will become exiting again for the finale in the Renault Sport Speed Trophy. With 183 points, Dominik Brinkmann and Stephan Epp now went into the lead and they are also looking forward to the finale of the season in two weeks time. Good chances to still win the special Renault classification have Elmar Jurek and Jannik Olivo with 168 points. Into position three follow Jean-Jacques Meyer and Uwe Kleen with a score of 138 points. The winner of the Renault Sport Speed Trophy 2011 will be decided in two weeks. The 36th DMB Münsterlandpokal race will then conclude Europeans most popular club racing series at the Nürburgring.
