No author of a thriller could have written a better script for the fourth round of the Opel Astra OPC Cup, part of the VLN endurance racing championship. Mario Merten, who was competing in the 53rd ADAC Reinoldus endurance race as solo driver after the death of his team mage Wolf Silvester, first gained pole position in the morning timed practice and was the superior race leader in the four hour race for long sections. A few minutes before the race end only, Merten who was so close to winning the race had to retire. Michael Bohrer and Peter Kreuer in the Opel Astra OPC with start number 349 took benefit from this retirement. The driver duo easily went into the lead of class Cup1 and took the chequered flag after 25 race laps as winner. Into second place followed Thorsten Wolter and Michael Brüggenkamp in the Opel Astra OPC Cup with start number 344. Their gap behind the winners was 2:12.078 minutes. Only 20.534 seconds behind finished Tobias Greineder and Marc Legel with start number 363 into third position.
“A visit in the sauna is much more agreeable than sitting in a race car with these temperatures”, said winner Michael Bohrer after the race with a smile in his face. “The victory is super, for sure. But it is above all a fantastic reward for the team which had to rebuild our car after our accident in the last race. I was able to observe the fight about first place for quite a long time quietly – and finally probably had the right bit of luck.”
Brüggemann and Wolter, too, were very happy with the race result. “This is a fantastic result”, said a happy Brüggenkamp. “We only finished into ninth place this morning in the timed practice – and now we finished the race in second position. We are more than happy also considering the incredible equal level of performance in this Cup.”
The team into third place could hardly believe their result. “That is superp”, said Greineder about their position on the podium. “Out target was to achieve a place in the top eight; now, we have finished third and we really did not at all expect this result.” His team mage Legel adds: “It is really a pity that Mario (Merten) retired when he was in the lead and missed the victory. We would have granted him this win and would rather have done without our third place instead.”
Bad luck for Jurek / Schula
For a long time they were following the leaders with a gap of only a few seconds: Elmar Jurek and Alexander Schula. They were shown in second position behind Mario Merten for a long time with their Astra OPC with start number 357 and were fighting with the solo driver about the lead in their class. A damaged driver shaft sleeve spoiled their performance. They finally finished fifteenth. Olivo and Jurek nevertheless defended their lead in the cup classification.
Against the heat
The high temperatures claimed everything from the drivers in the Opel Astra OPC Cup. Temperatures around 60°C were measured in the cockpit of the cars. “The heat in the cockpit war really difficult. But you have to be fully concentrated despite the heat”, was the summary of second placed Brüggenkamp. The single tyres in the Cup supplied by tyre partner Hankook, in contrast, did not show any weakness despite the high track temperatures of over 45°C, they were working without any problems.
Next race will be the highlight in the Astra Cup season
the next round of the Opel Astra OPC Cup will take place on 24 August. The ‚Opel 6 Hour ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen’ will not only markt he highlight of the endurance racing season, the make with the lightening in the ring will for the first time be title sponsor of the event. “We are really delighted to be title sponsor now for this outstanding motor sport event. Since almost twenty years, Opel has been supporting this event organised by the Motorsportclub Ruhr-Blitz. the cooperation crowns out Opel Astra OPC Cup and we are proud to be integral part of this traditional endurance race”, says Jörg Schrott, Commercial Director OPC and Motorsport of Adam Opel AG.
