Third round of the Opel Astra OPC Cup during the VLN endurance racing championship.
After taking the victory, Mario Merten and Jürgen Nett go into the championship lead.
First podium result for „Sugar Mountain“/Wächtler, retirement for Wolter/Fritzsche/Fritzsche
Nürburgring. With a win at the third round of the Opel Astra OPC Cup organised at the VLN endurance racing championship at the Nürburgring, Opel champion Mario Merten (Kelberg/ Germany) is back again: He took a superior victory at the 56th ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup together with his team mate Jürgen Nett (Mayen/ Germany) after four hours race duration. The driver duo took the start from pole position but dropped back on second place in between. They managed to get back into first place which they kept until the finish. “That was a really important result in this early stage of the fight about the title” was Merten’s comment at the prizegiving ceremony. The driver duo of the team Bonk Motorsport pushed the current leaders in the Cup Fritzsche/Fritzsche/Wolter back into second position.
But it was not only the winners who were celebrating their success: For “Sugar Mountain“ (Bad Lippspringe/ Germany) and Uwe Wächtler (Zwickau/ Germany) their second place was almost as significant as a first one. “I did not at all know how good it feels to be on the podium. I could absolutely get used to that”, said “Sugar Mountain”. “To finish in third place at the third race is absolutely fantastic. Uwe and I are a really good team and I can learn a lot from him”. Team mate Wächtler, chief instructor at the Sachsenring, praised the progress which the VLN rookie has made: “He has learned incredibly much at the first three rounds. For sure, I could give him some valuable advice but it is above all his positive attitude and his experience from various track days that makes him so quick. Apropos quick: The fastest lap at the 35.358 kilometres long combination of the Nürburgring short version and the Nordschleife was set by Wächtler with a time of 9:23.352 minutes and he gained an additional championship point in the Cup classification as a reward.
Just like the second placed, Willy Hüppi (Switzerland) and Michael Brüggenkamp (Gersheim/ German) celebrated their result on the podium like a win. “We were fighting hard, trying to make a good pace and finally, we are third all of a sudden”, said Hüppi happily. “I did not take care of our position during the race, I was just driving. Is seems that our combination of experience and newcomer has been really successful.”
The multiple VLN champions Heinz-Otto and Jürgen Fritzsche (both from Hückeswagen) were not lucky this time at the third round. Their team mate Thorsten Walter in the Cup Astra with start number 344 did not return from the first race lap. Jürgen Fritzsche: “Thorsten went off the track and crashed into the Armco barriers. This is of course a pity after the good results from the first two races. But there are seven races left and we will attack again in three weeks’ time”. The rookies from the dmsj Youngster Racing Team, Robin Strycek (Runkel/ Germany), Sandro Marsani (Hattingen/ Germany) and Christoph Wohlfart (Heppenheim/ Germany), too, had to retire at an early stage after a collision with another Cup participant. Happy about taking the chequered flag for the first time was the Team Bliss Autosport. After an accident in the first race and a retirement in the second one, Mate Eres (Remseck/ Germany), Lars Holtkamp (Düsseldorf/ Germany) and Oliver Bliss (Friesenheim/ Germany) this time finished tenth with their Cup Astra.
One victory and the championship table is put upside down. With their first victory in the season Merten/Nett moved up from sixth into first position. The table shows 59 points for them after the third round. After their void result on Saturday, Thorsten Wolter, Jürgen Fritzsche and Heinz-Otto Fritzsche dropped back into second place with 55 points. 25 points were awarded to the second placed ’Sugar Mountain’, ’Honey Hill’ and Uwe Wächtler and they took a major step forwards into third place in the Cup classification. After the first third of the season, the top seven in the table are separated by only 12 points.
