Race 1
Mads Siljehaug and Freddie Hunt took the win in the Reiter Engineering Ligier JS P320 in Saturday’s Prototype Cup Germany race at the Nürburgring.
In an eventful race, Axcil Jefferies and Maximilian Hackländer took second place in the Konrad Motorsport Ginetta with Klaus Abbelen and Felipe Fernández Laser taking third spot in the Frikadelli Racing Ligier.
With the Frikadelli entry, an invitational for this weekend only though Oscar Tunjo and Mateo Villagomez would complete the Championship podium in the Rinaldi Racing Duqueine D08.
“It is not only my first victory in the Prototype Cup Germany, but also my first victory in an LMP3. So of course I am overjoyed. After crossing the finish line, I had to hold back my emotions in the cockpit,” explained Freddie Hunt, the son of 1976 Formula 1 World Champion James Hunt, after the race.
Saturday’s race at the Nürburgring was started from pole position by Donar Munding in the Mühlner Motorsport Duqueine.
He got off to a bad start though and was overtaken by several cars on the run to the first corner. Toksport Ligier driver Berkay Besler took the lead followed by Tunjo in the Duqueine.
The duo was able to pull away a little at the front as the race progressed. Meanwhile, a fight worth seeing developed between Siljehaug in the Reiter-Ligier and Jefferies in the Konrad-Ginetta for third place. After about ten minutes of racing, the Norwegian prevailed and started to chase the two leaders.
Midway through the race, the Toksport WRT camp was in for a shock: Besler spun into the crash barrier at the entrance to the pits and damaged the rear of his Ligier. This meant that the double winner of the season opener in Spa-Francorchamps had to retire. The rest of the leading group came in for the obligatory driver change just before the pit stop window closed. This saw Hunt, who had taken over from 2019 ADAC GT4 Germany champion Siljehaug, take the lead ahead of Tunjo’s teammate Villagomez.
Hunt controlled the lead in the second part of the race, eventually cruising to victory with a lead of over five seconds. Villagomez spun twenty minutes before the end of the race, which allowed Hackländer’s third-placed Konrad-Ginetta to catch up. The former ADAC GT Masters driver overtook the South American a little later with a skilful manoeuvre in the AMG Arena and secured silver together with Axcil Jefferies.
Felipe Fernández Laser also passed Villagomez in the Ligier, which earned him third place together with Abbelen. Behind Villagomez, who also won the Junior classification, the Racing Experience Duqueine duo of Gary Hauser and Sebastian von Gartzen as well as Mühlner Motorsport’s Matthias Lüthen and Donar Munding finished fifth and sixth. Lüthen thus also won the Trophy classification.
The top eight was completed by the two Ligiers of Thibaut Ehrhart (Pegasus Racing) as well as Giorgio Rosa and Aleksey Chuklin (Speed Factory Racing).
Mads Siljehaug- winner for Reiter Engineering: “I am very happy about the victory. Our team has worked very hard for this since the start of the season. In my stint I was able to quickly take over third place. I saw the two leaders in front of me. They were also going fast. So I controlled my pace and paid attention to the cars. I was able to hand over the Ligier to Freddie in good condition.”
Axcil Jefferies – second place for Konrad Motorsport: “It was a good race. The car felt great and our team did a good job at the stop. So we are absolutely satisfied. We didn’t have the pace of the winners. But the start was great.”
Maximilian Hackländer – second place for Konrad Motorsport: “Of course, it’s great to finish on the podium in my first prototype race. Axcil put in a terrific stint. We stayed out of everything. I’m already looking forward to Sunday because I’ve never been on fresh tyres in LMP3 before.”
Mateo Villagomez – winner of the Junior classification for Rinaldi Racing: “It’s the first podium result for me in Europe. Of course, I am very happy about that, especially because the level of competition in the Prototype Cup Germany is so high. My thanks go to the organisation and the team. I had a lot of fun in my stint.”
Matthias Lüthen – winner Trophy classification for Mühlner Motorsport: “It was an interesting race and a great experience. Of course, the start didn’t work out the way we wanted it to. In the race we found our rhythm and drove home a good result. Of course, I’m happy about the victory in the Trophy classification, but for us the overall ranking is what counts first and foremost.”
Race 2
Berkay Besler and Marvin Dienst took the win in Sunday’s race in their Toksport WRT Ligier, returning to the top step of the podium after a double victory for the pair at the season opener in Spa-Francorchamps.
Second place in the race went to Matthias Lüthen and Donar Munding in the Mühlner Motorsport Duqueine D08.
Saturday’s winners Mads Siljehaug and Freddie Hunt completed the Sunday podium in the Reiter Ligier.
“It couldn’t have gone better today,” said Dienst after the race. “Three wins in four races make us really happy, of course. The championship title is the really big goal.”
Dienst had already started the race from pole position. He converted his starting position into the race lead and was able to pull away at the top.
Behind him there was a lot of action. Maximilian Hackländer in the Konrad Motorsport Ginetta Frikadelli Ligier driver Felipe Fernández Laser fought for second place with Laser eventually prevailing and setting off in pursuit of Dienst.
Freddie Hunt completed the top four at first but a spin after contact caused him to drop back to fifth position behind Mühlner driver Lüthen a little later.
Dienst extended his lead to over ten seconds before the pit stops. Klaus Abbelen, who had taken over from Laser, briefly headed the field. Dienst’s team-mate Besler, however, made short work of the Frikadelli Racing driver and took the lead around 20 minutes before the end. He did not relinquish this lead until the end of the race and crossed the finish line with a lead of around 16 seconds.
Abbelen dropped back down the order to finish in seventh place. Donar Munding in the Duqueine from Mühlner Motorsport took over second place. The 20-year-old kept the previous day’s winner Siljehaug in the Reiter-Ligier at bay during the second half of the race and with team-mate Lüthecliming victory in the Trophy classification.
Behind Siljehaug/Hunt, the Konrad Ginetta duo Axcil Jefferies and Maximilian Hackländer finished fourth. The two Duqueines of Oscar Tunjo and Mateo Villagomez (Rinaldi Racing) and Gary Hauser and Sebastian von Gartzen (Racing Experience) finished fifth and sixth. Eighth place went to Jacob Erlabacher and Michael Herich in their Gebhardt Motorsport Ginetta.
Completing the top ten were Jesse Salmenautio and Sebastian Arenram in the Koiranen Kemppi Motorsport Duqueine and Giorgio Rosa and Aleksey Chuklin in the Speed Factory Racing Ligier.
Berkay Besler: “Of course I am really happy to have won the race today. The 25 points are very important for us in terms of the championship. I had a nice duel right at the beginning of my stint. After overtaking my rival, I managed to finish the race calmly. I’m now looking forward to the next race weekend at the Lausitzring.”
Matthias Lüthen: “It was an incredibly nice race. Everything was going our way. Everything worked well in my stint. I handed the car over to Donar in fourth place and he did his job consistently. Second place and victory in the Trophy standings feel absolutely top. It’s the most successful race weekend of my career so far.”
Donar Munding: “I am very happy to have clinched the result. I had oversteer in the car and had to drive extremely carefully. But at the same time I got a lot of pressure from the third-placed driver behind me. All in all, that was very exhausting. To be able to celebrate second place together with my team-mate makes me very happy, of course.”
Freddie Hunt: “My stint was quite good. Overall I was a lot more relaxed in the car today than yesterday. I had some contact and was forced into a spin. As a result, I lost a bit of ground. This is the second time we’ve been on the podium at the Nürburgring after winning yesterday. So we couldn’t be happier.”
Mads Siljehaug: “My stint was okay. I struggled a bit with tyre wear and lost some aerodynamics in traffic. All in all, we had a good weekend. I really enjoyed my stint in the Prototype Cup Germany.”
