The Opel Astra OPC Cup had a superb start into its second season. At the first round of the Cup during the VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring, the Opel make cup followed on seamlessly its exciting battles of last season about seconds and positions. The happy winners at the 60th ADAC Westfalenfahrt after four hours race distance were Jari Nuoramo (Finland), Juha Hannonen (Finland) and Peter Bonk (Senden/ Germany) in the Astra Cup and start number 347. “It is fantastic to start the new season with a win”, said a happy winner Nuoramo.
The winning driver trio took the chequered flag at the 24.358 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short version and the Nordschleife after 25 laps and with an advance of 1:12.811 minutes ahead of Tim Schrick (Munich) and Hanno Luostarinen (Finland) following in second place. “It might have looked like an easy win but it was not at all a promenade – we had to push very hard to keep our competitors behind”, was the summary of Hannonen. An almost perfect debut in the Astra Cup was successfully made by Tim Schrick: The 38 years old TV moderator who had completed only eight laps in the more than 300 HP strong Astra at the timed practice on Saturday morning celebrated the second place together with his team mate from Finland, Luostarinen, like a victory. “The race was really great fun and I have learned a lot about the Astra. Stefan (Kissling) had a big smile in his face after my stint – that was a good signal”, said the race driver from Munich. The start of the race, though, had been anything else than perfect for start number 360. Almost 30 minutes after the race start, the Astra went off into the gravel after a collision and had to be brought back onto the track before they were able to rejoin the race.
Heinz-Otto and Jürgen Fritzsche (Hückeswagen/ Germany), too, had a promising new start in the season. The brothers share their cockpit with Thorsten Wolter (Berlin) and were more than happy with their third place. They missed second place finally only by 0.582 seconds. “We are totally surprised and very happy at the same time with our result”, said Heinz-Otto Fritzsche and his brother Jürgen adds: “The season can well continue this way.” The driver trio nevertheless had to tremble temporarily about their position on the podium. A screw had come off the exhaust system and an unscheduled pit stop had become necessary.
The opening of the season did not run as perfect for some other Opel teams. In the first part of the race already, Mario Merten (Kelberg/ Germany) and his partner Jürgen Nett (Mayen/ Germany) who had gained pole position in the timed practice had to stop the race in lap five after an accident with Alexander Mies (Heiligenhaus/ Germany), Daniela Schmid (Munich) and Jens Moetefindt (Buchholz/ Germany). The Astra with start number 354 entered by Bliss Motorsport also had to retire after an accident just as ‚Ben Harper’ (Berlin) and Elmar Jurek (Berlin). The second car entered by Lubner Event & Motorsport did not make it to the finish after a tyre problem and the resulting additional damages.
The Youngster Racing Team supported by Opel and the dmsj also made a fantastic debut in the Cup.
Dominik Busch (Trendelburg/ Germany), Sandro Marsani (Hattingen/ Germany) and Christoph Wohlfarth (Heppenheim/ Germany) finished in seventh place in the Cup-Astra with start number 361. Former DTM driver Volker Strycek praised their performance in saying: “The result is secondary – the three drivers have finished the race without any damage on the Astra and the have applied a lot of what they had learned before”.
„We are very happy with the start of the season. Like last year, we have again seen exciting motor sport at the season launch – close battles with hard but fair fights, with distances of a few centimetres only which meet the expectations and the reputation of a very strong make cup”, was the summary of Jörg Schrott, Opel Motorsport Director. “Our Astra has become faster compared to last year, all of the technical modifications have proved to be successful. The fight for the title has just started –and this will become a tough fight.”
