Finally, they made it. After a season with ups and downs, Robin Strycek and Moritz Oestreich were able to celebrate their first victory in the Astra OPC Cup, as always organised as part of the VLN endurance racing championship Nürburgring. The youngsters did not make any mistake during the four hour race at the legendary Nordschleife and took the chequered flag in their OPC GTC with start number 362 in first place. “Crazy! Finally we made it on top of the winners’ podium”, said Strycek happily at the finish. In second position finished once more the team of Lubner Motorsport with drivers Juha Hannonen, Jari Nuoramo and Daniel Bohr. They were thus able to reduce the gap to the championship leaders to ten points as, after two wins in a row, Heinz-Otto Fritzsche, Jürgen Fritzsche and Hannu Luostarinen did this time not score any points. For the first time on the podium finished also Jasmin Preisig and Marcel Senn. After their fourth place at the previous race, the driver duo from Switzerland gained third position and one was beaming brighter than the other at the prizegiving ceremony. “This is absolutely incredible”, said Jasmin, the only lady driver in the field in addition to Lena Strycek.
The Cup winners had been waiting for this day since eight races. “We had been very close to a race victory several times, but something spoiled it every time”, said Robin Strycek, son of DTM Champion in the year 1984 Volker Strycek. His team mate Moritz Oestreich, son of former DTM driver Markus Oestreich, added: “Today, everything was running perfectly and we had really great fun. A race day as it should be, the weather was fantastic, the car was running like a clockwork and we finished the day with a victory.” They had already been on the podium twice this year, Strycek and Oestreich became third both in the fourth and in the sixth race.
Nuoramo, Hannonen and Bohr in contrast still have to wait for their first victory in the current Astra OPC Cup season. Even though the driver trio seems to have a subscription on the podium this year, they have never gained first place so far in the very competitive Cup. The team with the Finnish and Luxembourgian drivers finished on the podium six times in a row, including four times in second position. “Again we were so close to our first top success, but again it didn’t work”, was the summary of a disappointed Daniel Bohr. “The problem very often is the yellow flag sections. Sometimes it is to your advantage and sometimes not. But we are optimistic regarding the championship. The difference of ten points is nothing and the cup leaders now cannot afford to make any mistake in the two remaining races. The final score will not be established before the end of the last race. And should we finally take the title without having scored a win, I simply don’t mind.”
The twins Heinz-Otto and Jürgen Fritzsche as well as the Finn Hannu Luostarinen for sure had a different picture on the running of this eighth round of the Astra OPC Cup. After a good practice result, the driver trio intended to further increase their lead in the Cup. But it didn’t work. Already 25 minutes after the start, start driver Luostarinen drove his Opel GTC OPC with start number 353 to an unscheduled pit stop. They discovered a turbo failure. “We are experienced enough to know that this can always happen”, said Otto Fritzsche. “It is nevertheless of course a great disappointment. We will now have to find the exact reason before we take up the challenge again at the next race. Our target remains to gain the title in the Cup.”
Jasmin Preisig and Marcel Senn meanwhile celebrated their third place like a victory. “We are really glad. It was a long and great effort to come to where we are now but we are now finally reaping the rewards”, said Jasmin who lives in Switzerland. She reported that her last metres in the race were more like riding on the edge of a razor blade. “I was extremely nervous and didn’t want to make a mistake in order to secure this important third place.” Her team mate Senn was not less nervous: “I felt that the seconds on the clock were running much slower than usually. After our fourth place at the 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal Race and today’s third place, the series to be followed is clear – positions two and one are still missing?”
Things could have been worse for Willy Hüppi who was sharing the GTC OPC of Kappler Motorsport with Alexander Schula. Whilst he was in the lead of the Cup classification, the Swiss rolled over several times in the 13th lap after a collision with a GT3 car in the section Hatzenbach. The safety structure integrated in the Cup vehicle stood up to the strain so that Hüppi could be released after a check in the Medical Centre.
The fight about the title in the Astra OPC Cup is extremely tight now. After eight out of ten races, Fritzsche, Fritzsche and Hannonen are leading with 157 points ahead of Nuoramo, Hannonen and Bohr (147 points). Considering that the total of an additional 60 points remain to be awarded, plus four possible bonus points for pole position and fastest race lap, the competition remains exciting until the very end. After their third place, Senn and Preisig have moved up by two positions in the Cup classification. The Swiss team is now in fourth championship position behind the second car of TI-Tarkive Racing driven by Hunt, Kariste and Liiri.
The next round of the OPC Cup will already take place in two weeks. The penultimate race of the popular Opel single-make cup is scheduled to take place on 17th of October.
