In just a few days, the Opel Astra OPC Cup will start its third season at the Nürburgring. The popular Opel make cup will in 2015 again run as part of the VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring with its ten rounds over the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife. The season-opener on 28 March 2015 will run over a four hour duration, just as eight additional championship races. The only exception will be the Opel 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen on 5 September, the highlight of the season. The interest of the teams and the drivers in the fast Cup car from the plant in Rüsselsheim/ Germany is unbroken and the grid will feature an international participation – in addition to the drivers from Germany, drivers from Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and Turkey will join the Cup and compete at the “Green Hell”. The male race drivers will, however, again have to face a strong female competition. Not less than five female drivers have registered in the Opel Astra OPC Cup for the 2015 season.
Current champions Heinz-Otto and Jürgen Fritzsche (both from Hückeswagen/ Germany) will start their project of defending the title in a new team: Their 320 HP strong Opel Astra OPC Cup will be entered by the Finnish team Ti-Tarvike-Racing. Together with Finn Hannu Luostarinen, 2014 VLN vice-champion, the Fritzsche brothers will to repeat their success of last year. A second car with drivers Seppo Hunt, Illka Kariste and Heikki Liiri (all from Finland) will be entered by the team to fight for points. “The title win in the Opel Astra OPC Cup has demonstrated that we are not yet part of the old guard,” says Heinz-Otto Fritzsche. His brother Jürgen adds: “We will fully attack again in 2015 and we are delighted to start our 25th successive motorsport year with Opel cars. Our target of course is to defend the title.”
In 2015, the championship duo will meet old friends who have already gained experience in racing in the Cup-Astra and new faces likewise. Swiss private driver Willi Hüppi, for example, wishes to follow up his excellent results from last year. After having gained third position in the 2015 Cup classification, he wishes to even improve this year. In his third season in the Astra Cup, he will be supported in this target by his team mates Alexander Schula (Hattersheim/ Germany) and Thomas Gerling (Uchte/ Germany).
Popular names will share the cockpit in the team of Schirmer Race Engineering: With Robin Strycek (Dehrn/ Germany) and Moritz Oestreich (Petersberg/ Germany), the sons of former DTM drivers Volker Strycek and Markus Oestreich will compete in the Opel Astra OPC Cup. The youngster have already had the opportunity to gain experience at the demanding race track in the Eifel region and they will now have to stand against the strong competition provided by the experts at the Nordschleife and in the Cup. Lena Strycek (Dehrn/ Germany), daughter of Volker and sister of Robin, too, relies on Opel. She will participate in the team of Bonk Motorsport together with Ronja Assmann (Golszen/ Germany) and Raphael Hundeborn (Villmar/ Germany). A hot iron in the fire has team manager Michael Bonk with the Astra driven by Mario Merten (Kelberg/ Germany), first Champion in the Opel Astra OPC Cup, Jürgen Nett (Mayen/ Germany) and Marc Legel (Runkel/ Germany) – all of them being experienced drivers at the Nordschleife. The third Astra of the team is made up of a purely Swiss crew: Marcel Senn, Pascal Eberle and Jasmin Preisig will share the cockpit in the Opel.
The Team Lubner Motorsport from Georgenthal/ Germany will provide a premiere in the endurance racing championship. With Mustafa Mehmet Kaya and Yigit Yazici, this is the first time that two race drivers from Turkey will join this popular grass-roots series. After their first tests at the “Green Hell”, the two can hardly except to start their adventure Nordschleife.
The Astra OPC Cup technical and sporting regulations remained almost complete unmodified compared to last year. “Reliable, cost-efficient technology and consistent regulations are the cornerstones for the Opel Astra OPC Cup”, says Opel Motorsport Director Jörg Schrott. “With the Opel make cup as part of the VLN endurance racing championship, we have developed a fantastic field of activity for ambitious private drivers and for experts at the Nordschleife, which is unique in its kind.”
