The ‚Opel 6 Hour ADAC Ruhr-Pokal Race’ marks the highlight of the VLN Endurance racing championship season for all the fans, but the race which covers an additional 50 percent race distance is equally popular with drivers and teams. The Aston Martin teams had, however, to develop a new strategy at the fifth race of this popular grassroots series in the current season, and this not only as a consequence of the longer race distance. The changing weather conditions at the 24.359 kilometres long track in the Eifel region made the race a true gamble in the choice of tyres. Despite the difficult conditions the team of Mathol Racing e.V. secured a win in class SP10 (GT4 cars) with their Aston Martin V8. The manager of the Nürburgring Aston Martin Test Centre, Wolfgang Schuhbauer (Brilon/ Germany) was equally happy with the results of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage entered by the Test Centre: “It was fantastic to finish the race today with both of our cars under the prevailing conditions, our drivers have done a brilliant job.” The British race car with start number 138 was driven by Mathias Hüttenrauch (Schlangen/ Germany) and Michael Czyborra (Wandlitz/ Germany); the team in the second eight-cylinder Aston Martin (number 144) was again made up of Liam Talbot (Australia) and Egon Allgäuer (Switzerland). Schuhbauer competed in the 6 Hour Race as double starter in both cars. The cars finished into positions 69 and 49 respectively.
Debut in the endurance racing championship
Dr. Michael Czyborra made his debut in racing at the VLN endurance racing championship. “The race was very demanding for me as a newcomer in the VLN series as you can imagine”, said Czyborra. “I completed two stints in total, the first one over ten laps – that was really great fun but physically also very exhausting. With the support of the Aston Martin Test Centre instructors, I was very well prepared for the event. During the race, however, you need to be concentrated not only onto your car but you must also permanently keep a careful eye on everything that happens around you. I do not want to slow down the faster cars in the end.”
The 51 years old driver caught the virus motor sport two years ago: A visit at the 24h Race at the Nürburgring caused him to start this hobby. He learned racing from scratch in the Aston Martin Driving Academy. After two participations in the Circuit Challenge Nürburgring, many practice laps at the Nürburgring and the ‘Go’ by the instructors, the businessman started in his first VLN round at the 6 Hour Race. “I have gained a lot of positive experience and felt perfectly well in the team”, he added.
At the end of the day, Schubauer gave a positive summary: “Our drivers gained a lot of confidence during this difficult race day. The constant change between dry, wet and damp conditions made them better understand the tyres and they learned how they are working. And this is important.” The expert in racing at the Nordschleife, however, was not at all happy with the new cars in class SP8 (VLN Specials up to 6,200 cc cylinder capacity). “Up to now, class SP8 was dominated by high volume race cars, most of which are nevertheless based on series technology and driven by purely private drivers. Now some stronger teams with thoroughbred race cars and driven by professional race drivers have joined this class – this results in a strong imbalance.”
The total of nine Aston Martin race cars had been at the start of the 6 Hour Race. The drivers came from Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia and Switzerland. The licence number of Arthur Goroyan from Armenia by the way shows the meaningful licence number ARM001. The victory for Mathol Racing was the 36th class win for an Aston Martin in the VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring.
