The sixth round of the OPC Cup organised during the VLN endurance racing championship was actually quite tough. After close duels over many laps and with gaps of only few seconds, the victory in today’s race of the popular Opel one-make cup was decided only in the very final part of the race. The experienced championship leaders hereby had the right touch on this sunny Saturday. The GTC OPC entered by the Team Ti-Tarvike Racing and driven by Jürgen and Heinz-Otto Fritzsche as well as Hannu Luostarinen took the chequered flag after the four hour race as the winners. Jari Nuoramo, Juha Hannonen and Daniel Bohr crossed the finish line in second position and with a gap of only 6.2 seconds behind the winners. The podium was completed by Moritz Oestreich and Robin Strycek.
For a long time it did not look like a win for the ex-Champion. In the very first part of the race, the Cup racer with start number 353 was in the middle of the pack and lost a lot of time due to battles with other cars whilst the leading crew with Willy Hüppi and Alexander Schula in the race car with start number 339 as well as the youngsters Strycek and Oestreich with number 362 were able to move away in the two leading positions. The two GTC OPC completed the laps at the demanding asphalt track of the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a difference of less than two seconds and their pursuers at this time lost contact. “It was clear for us that it would not be easy today”, said Heinz-Otto Fritzsche after the race. “The key to success today was our strategy; we had a fresh set of tyres for our last stint so that we could fully attack.” It was then Daniel Bohr who had to resist these attacks during the last race laps. He was so close to their first victory of the season until the 22nd race lap when he had to admit defeat to his rival, final driver Jürgen Fritzsche. “We were really very close this time”, said a disappointed Bohr who lives in Luxembourg. “My set of tyres faded a bit towards the end, I was no longer able to push hard and so I had to see Jürgen moving away.”
The running of the current season has so far been full of ups and downs for Moritz Oestreich and Robin Strycek. Third position at the fourth race of the season was followed by a retirement in race five. And even though the two youngsters took the chequered flag today in third place, they were not really happy: “Everything was running perfectly at the beginning”, informed Oestreich. “I handed over our car in second position and everything was looking quite promising for Robin, too.” For a short while, Strycek was even able to go into the lead until he was slowed down due to a technical problem: “For no apparent reason, the engine all of a sudden did not respond to the throttle and changed to the emergency programme. It was ok again after I switched off and restarted the engine, but of course we lost time.” That time was perhaps missing in the end to celebrate their first triumph in the season as their gap to the winners finally was only 44.6 seconds. After their great success at the fifth OPC Cup race, Willy Hüppi and Alexander Schula this time just barely missed the podium and finished fourth.
The third victory of the season for Heinz-Otto Fritzsche was at the same time the 80th class win in the VLN. So the experienced race driver who, with five championship titles, belongs to the most successful drivers in the endurance racing championship is missing two more class wins to go in the lead of this classification. “As long as I am still competing in races, I don’t bother about statistics”, he says but adds with a smile in his face: “But at the moment when I will stop racing, it would nevertheless be great to be in the top.”
Due to their third victory in the season, Fritzsche, Fritzsche and Luostarinen extended their lead in the Cup classification and are now shown with 126 points in first place. Hüppi, Schula and Gerling have a score of exactly 100 points. Up into third place moved Nuoramo, Hannonen and Bohr who have now collected 97 points.
The highlight of the Opel OPC Cup season will take place on 5 September. The Opel 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen will not only provide two more hours of racing action than usual, the support programme at this seventh VLN round will be very much dominated by the make with the Blitz logo.
