Mid-season of the VLN series, at the 52nd ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen at the Nürburgring, the greatest number of entries was received from the RENAULT CLIO race cars. With 18 participants, the CUP3 class was by far the strongest in the whole field.
In the third starting group of the grid which figured the total of almost 150 cars, 18 RENAULT CLIO took the start on Saturday under perfect weather conditions. The driver duo from Berlin, Olivo and Jurek, started the race from second grid row out of 29 in total. And they would not be displaced from their leading position in the CUP3 classification until the end of the race. The protégé of TKS team manager Mario Hebler and Traudl Klink thus scored important points in their fight about the VLN overall victory.
The Renault Sport organisers were particularly delighted that one third of the Renault Clio also participated in the special classification of the CLIO CUP Speed Trophy. To be eligible for this classification, the drivers must use DUNLOP single tyres and their car silhouette must have a standard design. Even though the team Groneck crossed the finish line in this race with an advance of more than five minutes, the driver trio Frei, Lhomer and Raab are still in the lead of the Speed Trophy overall classification after the total of five second places. After five championship rounds, they are separated by exactly 30 points from the Gronck brothers.
A fantastic debut made the team of G-A-T Sport who finished a race for the first time in the current year. The team had a lot of bad luck during the first four rounds due to technical failures or accidents. They were this time rewarded for their patience with a third place in the CLIO CUP Speed Trophy classification. The crews of ATM-Motorsport this weekend showed a brilliant team effort. When the drive shaft broke in the section Eiskurve, driver Ernst Berg brought his vehicle back to the pits, highly disappointed. The team managed to repair the car within only 11 minutes. Even though the team dropped back from a hard-fought position amongst the top 5 down to the end of the field, ATM-Motorsport still made it into the points after this fantastic team effort.
The sixth round of the 2012 VLN endurance racing championship will take place in two weeks time with the 35th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen on 21st July 2012. The CLIO CUP Bohemia organised by Renault Sport will have a supporting race on the Grand Prix Circuit.
