In the past, when 50 percent of a school test was correct, the mark you got was only just “sufficient”, but you passed. After the fifth race in the VLN endurance racing championship, Matthias Holle, too, did not feel much better than “sufficient”. Three of the six race cars entered for the event made it to the finish. Whilst there were not problems for those three, the flagship of Mathol Racing this time failed.
A good performance in class V6 in contrast showed Rüdiger Schicht, Hans Holmlund and Volker Wawer in the Porsche Cayman S. “All of the three have done a brilliant job and completed the race without any problem or damage”, said Matthias Holle proudly. With second position in their class, the team definitely showed its potential. However, they finally dropped back into third place due to a time penalty.
Ivan Jacoma and Claudius Karch also started in class V6 with the target to win for the fourth time in a row, but they had to leave the premises prematurely. When braking for a right corner, Krach crashed straight into the guardrails with his Zimmermann-Cayman. “We have to study carefully the videos and the technical data to analyse the crash but it seems that the Porsche went off on a slippery spot spoiled by oil and cooling water.” Instead of the lead in the championship, which they had hoped for, the driver duo scored zero points. With 9:02,438 minutes, they nevertheless scored the fastest race lap in their class.
The running of the race for the two Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT4 in class SP10 was particularly annoying as they are normally renowned for their reliability. Whilst the Stadavita-Aston remained in the pits already at the start, the Avia-Aston stopped beside the track after one and a half hours.
Matthias Holle was in contrast very satisfied with the participation of the Avia-BMW in class Cup 5. The BMW M235i Racing was running like a clockwork and the three drivers Andre Duve, Christian Volz and Max Walter von Bär did particularly well. “We can be absolutely happy with our result. It had been clear from the beginning that we would not be able to drive in the top positions here”, said Holle who could well live with class position twelve. For Jörg Kittelmann, Klaus Müller and Thomas Heinrich, too, the class win was never in discussion. The competitors in the Seat Leon Supercopa are simply too strong. The blue race car nevertheless once again demonstrated its reliability and the drivers completed the four hour VLN race safely.
After a rather mixed race, Mathol Racing is now looking forward to the sixth VLN round at the Nürburgring on 22nd August when they intend to attack again.
