After top-three positions in the years 2016 and 2017, ‘Max’ and ‘Jens’, who are competing under a pseudonym in the VLN, took a class win for the first time in the Cayman GT4 Trophy by Mantey-Racing. After 26 laps at the VLN endurance racing season opener in the Green Hell, the driver duo of GetSpeed Performance crossed the finish line with a lead of 2:11.184 minutes over the second-placed Daniel Bohr, Hendrik von Danwitz and Fabio Grosse of Teichmann Racing. The top three were completed by the new junior crew of last year’s teams champion Mühlener Motorsport with drivers Sascha Köhler, Timo Mölig and Felix Günther.
“The guys are really happy. They went through a rather hard time during the last two years even though they finished second and third now and then. So a victory right away in the first race of the new season is of course fantastic. Due to a collision in the qualifying we had to carry out some repair work on the car. The race, though, was running perfectly and according to schedule”, said Team Principle Adam Osieka.
Over the four hours race distance, ‘Max’ and ‘Jens’ worked their way up from fifth grid position to the victory. The pole position had been taken up by the Cayman with start number 970 in which the Norwegian Oskar Sandberg completed the fastest qualifying lap with a time of 8:47.107 minutes. He and his two team mates Thorsten Jung and Maik Rönnefarth thus gained a bonus point for the championship classification. The pole setter nevertheless had to retire in the race. The second bonus point for the fastest lap in the race was awarded to start number 969 with Moritz Krantz setting a time of 8:54.268 minutes on the track around the Nordschleife.
“Actually, we didn’t have a good start into the day. After our fifth place in the qualifying, there was a number of cars ahead of us, not only Caymans but also cars from other Cup classes. Yet, I got away well at the start and made it into the top-three until our first stop. I then took back the steering wheel from Jens in first place after his stint – with an advance of about 35 seconds. So I simply had to bring home that victory. I wouldn’t mind if thing continued this way”, said ‘Max’.
