In beautiful weather, the fifth round in the current VLN endurance racing championship season at the Nürburgring provided a fantastic stage for exciting racing action in the Opel OPC Cup where the decision about the victory was taken only in the very last lap. Dominating in the end was the GTC OPC with start number 339 of the team Kappeler Motorsport. With a risky fuel strategy, the drivers Willy Hüppi and Alexander Schula gained their first victory of the season. Into second place followed the Cup leaders Hannu Luostarinen together with Heinz-Otto and Jürgen Fritzsche. The podium was completed by Jari Nuoramo, Juha Hannonen and Daniel Bohr who celebrated their third finish on the podium in a row.
For the two youngsters Moritz Oestreich and Robin Strycek of the team Schirmer in contrast, luck seems not to be on their side in the current season. In the qualifying of the 47th ADAC Barbarossapreis, they had once again gained pole position in their class and were able to defend the lead in the first half of the race. Just before the end of the second race hour then, they had a collision when lapping another car in the section of Metzgesfeld. The Opel with start number 362 and driver Strycek behind the steering wheel as a consequence crashed heavily into the guardrails and was not able to continue. This was already the third race for the sons of former DTM drivers Volker Strycek and Markus Oestreich in which they were not able to score a top result through no fault of their own.
Amongst the beneficiaries were Hüppi and Schula. With a risky manoeuvre, they provided quite a surprise for their competitors. “We managed to complete the race with a number of fuel stops which was one below the others. We extended the middle stint already by one lap so that it was fairly probable that we could make it. A part of our team was however against this strategy – and to be honest, I was part of them”, says the Swiss racing enthusiast Hüppi after the race with a smile in his face. “When Alexander had crossed the finish line, we had some misfiring at the Querspange due to a lack of fuel – so it was really tight.” Team mate Schula adds: “Already during my last stint, I was driving very economically and I just made it to the end. Our motto was ‘all or nothing’ and it was close to ‘nothing’. But now we can celebrate our success.” And they have enough reason to celebrate as their courage was rewarded with their first win in the season after having completed the 25 laps race distance.
The second-placed crew of the team Ti-Tarvike with drivers Hannu Luostarinen as well as Heinz-Otto and Jürgen Fritzsche were in a good mood, too. The latter said: “Considering the problems we had in the race with a lack of grip at the front, we are really happy with this result. We had actually been sure that the race leaders would have to come again to the pits for refuelling. Schula tried to make it without another pit stop and he succeeded, we are absolutely glad for the team. Next time, we will be turning the tables again”, he said with confidence.
After two second places in the last two races, the Lubner car driven by Jari Nuoramo, Juha Hannonen and Daniel Bohr this time finished in third position. Bohr who was a little disappointed explained why they did not finish on top of the winners podium despite having defended the lead over a long section: “We had a relatively good race in the first part. In the second stint, we managed to move up from fourth place into the lead and kept this place until the penultimate lap. Near the race end, we had to proceed to a splash-and-dash stop for safety reasons and thus lost the victory.” There was, however, also reason for joy: “We are of course delighted with the third successive result on the podium. We have again collected valuable points”, said Bohr and highlighted the positive point of their result.
The Fritzsche brothers maintained their advance of 14 points in the championship classification. The race winners Hüppi and Schula have now moved up in second position. Seppo Hunt, Ilkka Kariste and Heikki Liiri in the second Ti-Tarvike vehicle dropped back in third place and, with 73 points, are only one point ahead of the driver trio Nuoramo, Hannonen and Bohr. The positions behind, too, are very close, the gap between positions five and seven is only four points. So the championship will remain exciting with the next Opel OPC Cup round taking place on 22nd August and with the battles in the “Green Hell” to be resumed again at the sixth race of the VLN season 2015.
