Hard work for the participants in the TMG GT86 Cup. At the second round of the VLN endurance racing championship, weather once again played a decisive factor. The key issue here was to be out on the track with the right tyres at the right time. Any this was most successfully managed by the current champions Arne Hoffmeister and Fabian Wrabetz of the Team Dörr-Motorsport. With their TMG GT86 CS-V3 with start number 534, the title defenders pulled away from their rivals right after the start and constantly extended their lead aver the four hour race direction to finally celebrate a superior victory. “I was sliding very much on our rain tyres in the first lap. The track was no longer wet enough and the tyres got too warm. This is why I came back to the pits right after the first lap to get slick tyres. We had a perfect race thereafter”, informed start driver Hoffmeister. His team mate Wrabetz added: “Once again, our Toyota was perfectly prepared. However, when it started to rain heavier in the second half of the race, it became more and more difficult to keep the car on the track.” After 22 laps, the championship duo finally finished one lap ahead of their chasing rivals.
The fights for the positions on the winners’ podium was really exciting for long distances: The father and son duo Wolfgang and Kevin Hönscheid (WH-Motorsport, start number 538) had a close battle with Manual Amweg and Thomas Lampert of the Toyota Swiss Racing Team (start number 533) in the second half of the race. “In particular due to a perfect pit stop, we managed to catch up and secure our second place with an advance of 8.02 seconds”, said Kevin Hönscheid at the finish. Amweg and Lampert finally finished in third position, just 18.6 second ahead of the second Dörr car finishing fourth and driven by Thomas Bolz and Stefan Kenntemich who had become stronger and stronger towards the final part of the race.
Under the difficult weather conditions, the good performance of the two Thai Kusiri Kantasak and Manat Ton (Toyota Team Thailand), was not really to be expected. They made their Cup debut in a car entered by the Team Leipert Motorsport and finished the race in position six of the Cup classification. The team Pit Lane in contrast was not that lucky. The Belgian team around team principal Olivier Muytjens completed the fastest lap in qualifying and would have achieved pole position for the second time their Cup history. The Belgian did, however, not appear on the starting grid. “Just after the fastest time of our driver ‘Brody’, he went off the track at the section Exmühle and crashed into the barriers. He didn’t sustain any injuries but the front part of our car so badly damaged that it was impossible to repair it in time for the race”, explained a disappointed Muytjens.
Nico Ehlert, Principal Engineer Customer Motorsport: “Our current champions Hoffmeister and Wrabetz have completed a strong race today and deserved to win. The exciting fights behind them once again demonstrate that all of the participants in our one-make cup have the chance to join the top group.”
