Just like their pit crew, the two drivers Willy Hüppi (Switzerland) and Alex Schula have hardly shown any weaknesses so far in the current Opel Astra OPC Cup season. At the highlight of the VLN season 2015, the 6h race, they performed very well again but a mistake in their race strategy resulted in exclusion from the race.
The small Kappeler Motorsport Team had gained eighth grid position in the practice. Considering the race duration of six hours, Hüppi and Schula were quite confident about their chances in the race. Right from the start, Schula was pushing hard and crossed the start and finish line in his bright yellow Burkhalter-Genrali Astra in first place already after the first lap. While he was leading, he handed over the car to Hüppi who managed to avoid any involvement in an incident during his stint over 180 minutes but lost the lead when he changed back to Schula. The latter still believed in a victory and did everything to catch the drivers in the lead Fritzsche, Fritzsche and Luostarinen.
In the last race lap, at the Grand Prix Circuit, they suddenly ran out of fuel. The Astra was instructed to come to the pits for a splash and dash. Their current second position was not in danger and the gap to the third-placed car was big enough. When the yellow Opel entered the pit lane, the chequered flag went out for the overall leader of the race. Schula, too, saw the chequered flag and already celebrated second place with his team, but the joy did not last very long. Schula should not have finished the race in the pit lane as they were consequently excluded. “We fell down, but we will get back up again and pursue our targets – full speed ahead”, said Hüppi after the race. Schula added. “Luck was a little lacking this time. You loose and you win together in motorsport. Despite the non-classification, I am not disappointed with the race. We had a good speed and the car was running perfectly.” The team did however not leave the circuit without any points. They scored one point in the OPC Cup overall classification for their fastest race lap. In the Cup classification, the driver duo Schula and Hüppi are in fourth place. The gaps between the top positions are nevertheless very tight, the second-placed and the sixth-placed are separated by only 26 points.
