The 2015 VLN season finale saw 147 cars turning up in the Eifel region and instead of the forecast Indian summer they were greeted by thick fog and cold temperatures just like at the last race two weeks prior. But unlike the last round the fog took much longer to lift, prompting the organisers to change the timing schedule heavily with Qualifying cut down to 70 minutes from an original 90 minutes and the race distanced shorted to three hours from the planned four.
With the cold temperatures and a small field you could expect qualifying once again being a run of low lap times. In the end Jesse Krohn got his first VLN pole position but putting in a 8:01.303 minutes lap time in his BMW Z4 GT3 of Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop. Second went to the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus and their SCG003C of Thomas Mutsch, Jeff Westphal and Christian Menzel. Renger van der Zande put the lonely Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, enterd by CarCollection Motorsport, into third starting position ahead of the Porsche 911 GT3 R of the Frikadelli Racing Team. The Wochenspiegel Porsche 911 GT3 RSR qualified sixth, ahead of the TwinBusch Motorsport Audi and the second BMW of Walkenhorst Motorsport. Black Falcon’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup got eight starting position, with the Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and the second SCG003C rounding out the top ten.
The start of the race saw Renger van der Zande jump the two cars ahead of him and take the lead, behind him Jesse Krohn and Thomas Mutsch were able to keep the loss at a minimum and after losing some space during the first part of the Nordschleife were able to catch up with the Mercedes-Benz SLS.
At the completion of lap one Krohn was just about half a second back from van der Zande and during the second lap was able to take the lead.
With Mutsch in third it was Patrick Huisman (Frikadelli Racing Team Porsche 911 GT3 R) in fourth, until he pitted at the end of lap two, followed by Dennis Busch (TwinBusch Motorsport Audi R8 LMS ultra), Sven Müller (Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R), Philipp Eng (Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup), Manuel Lauck (Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG003C), Michela Cerruti (Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop BMW Z4 GT3) and Christopher Brück (Frikadelli Racing Team Porsche 911 GT3 Cup America).
During the course of the third lap Jesse Krohn got handed a Stop-and-Go penalty for speeding in a yellow zone, this then handed the lead back to Renger van der Zande. Van der Zande’s lead didn’t last to long, when he touched with Thomas Mutsch on the GP loop and both went off for a short time, giving the lead to Dennis Busch. At the completion of the fourth lap Busch held a six second advantage over Mutsch with van der Zande a further ten seconds back in third.
Charging hard through the field Dominik Farnbacher found himself and his Lexus RC-F GT3 in fourth place at the completion of lap six. Thomas Mutsch was the first out of the lead trio to dive for the pit lane and hand his car over to one of his teammates, just one lap later the bulk of the lead pack undertook their first pit stop and after the first round of stops it was Sven Müller in the Manthey Porsche holding the lead. The Porsche junior profited from a very early pit stop after lap six.
In second it was Jeroen Bleekemolen in the black SCG003C and Jesse Krohn in the Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop BMW Z4 GT3. Fourth was in the hands of Marc Basseng (TwinBusch Motorsport Audi R8 LMS ultra), with Manuel Metzger (Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Kenneth Heyer (CarCollection Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3) in the hunt for a podium position.
With the second placed SCG003C pitting after lap 11 and the two other top three running cars after lap 13, the overall classification changed to Marc Basseng (TwinBusch Motorsport Audi R8 LMS ultra) leading from Manuel Metzger (Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and Oliver Kainz (Wochenspiegel Team Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 RSR).
The final round of pit stops saw the Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup taking the lead, when the team finished off their driver change from Manuel Metzger to Gerwin faster than their competition. But the Dutch privateer driver was already being hunted down by Marc Busch in the TwinBusch Audi.
Victor Bouveng, who took the wheel of the Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop BMW Z4 GT3 from Jesse Krohn was running in third. In the meantime Franck Mailleux, who took over the black SCG003C from Jeroen Bleekemolen started to experience technical problems with a fault in the fuel pick up system. The team tried to repair the problem, but decided to send the car back out but down on power.
With the fog moving back in, and a very long fluid line stretching down the Döttinger Höhe race control decided to red flag the race with about 15 minutes left in the race.
The race result was declared on the completion of the seventh lap, this meant that Philipp Eng, Manuel Metzger and Gerwin took a surprise victory in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The surprise was even bigger for the finishers in second and third, despite their technical troubles Manuel Lauck, Franck Mailleux and Jeroen Bleekemolen were able to take a podium for the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus in second and Christopher Brück and Frank Kräling in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup America of the Frikadelli Racing Team took third.
Due to the count back to lap 17, the TwinBusch Audi R8 LMS ultra and the Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 were relegated to fourth and sixth respectively, with the Wochenspiegel Team Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 RSR squeezing inbetween them. Walkenhorst Motorsport powered by Dunlop still had enough reasons to celebrate, as they took the VLN Speed Trophy awarded to the best team finishing the overall classification. The CarCollection Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 finished seventh ahead of Otto Klohs and Sven Müller in their Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. The other SCG003C finished in ninth, with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup America of Konrad Motorsport rounding out the top ten.
Another class victory was enough for the brothers Tim and Dirk Groneck to secure their second VLN overall championship. Just like during their first title in 2013 the team dominated a class with their Renault Clio, albeit this season it was the SP3 class winning eight times out of the ten races.
Stef van Campenhoudt, who drove all season long by himself in a BMW 325i, finished the championship just 0,8 points bak in second place. Van Campenhoudt still secured the championship in the VLN production class trophy.
The Third championship place went to Arne Hoffmeister and Fabian Wrabetz, who pedalled a Toyota GT86 through the Green Hell.
During a dominant season Hoffmeister and Wrabetz won eight races taking the Toyota TMG GT86 Cup two races before the end of the season.
Michele di Martino and Moritz Oberheim were able to come out on top in the BMW M235i Racing Cup, towards the end of the race it looked to them like they would lose their championship when Oberheim crashed on the oil trail down the Döttinger Höhe but due to the count back they were still classified taking the title. The title in the Opel Astra OPC Cup went to Daniel Bohr, Jari Nuoramo and Juha Hannonen.
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