VLN 2 on Saturday saw bright sunshine, and a close finish with Rowe Racing taking the victory courtesy of their BMW factory duo of Jesse Krohn and Connor De Phillippi.
Just 8.789 seconds back were Black Falcon’s Mercedes AMG GT3 quartet: Maro Engel, Adam Christodoulou, Manuel Metzger and Dirk Müller with Klaus Bachler and Martin Ragginger completing the podium in the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Falken Motorsport, edging the Sheldon van der Linde / Marcel Fässler Audi R8 LMS of Land Motorsport off the podium.
“This result is a dream”, said 2017 N24 winner De Phillippi. Our technical staff got a lot of work to do after our accident yesterday in the setup session.” It was very late when the lights were turned off in the pits of Rowe Racing but their hard work was final rewarded. “We dedicate this victory to our mechanics!”
The BMW was very competitive right from the beginning of this second race. “On Friday, we have worked very hard and consistently on both cars, with the main focus on getting the car setup all right. The performance, in particular in the timed practice, was fine. If you don’t have a good start position, you lose so much in the first part of the race that you will hardly be able to catch up during the remainder of the four hours race time.”
The winners started the race from seventh position on the grid after a very close qualifying session.
The first 22 cars set lap times within a range of only 10 seconds with Laurens Vanthoor in the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Manthey-Racing setting pole, 7:58.951. In the race, the Belgian was then not very lucky. He lost control of the #911 car on lap 14 and hit the armco.vHe made it back to the pits but front end damage was beyond immediate repair.
The road was therefore clear amongst others for Black Falcon. “You can believe me that I gave it everything in the last laps to make up the gap to the race leaders”, said Müller. “Unfortunately, it was only enough for second place. One more lap and I would perhaps have been able to catch Jesse. It is nevertheless a top result. If you look at the lap times, the performance of all the cars is quite equal.” The Falken Team became faster and faster throughout the race.
“Our tyres are especially sensitive in cold temperatures. That was quite a disadvantage today in the timed practice”, said Ragginger. “We then improved our speed lap by lap during the race. The car is relatively easy to control. So we are hoping for good weather in the upcoming races.”
Professional cars in class SP9 finished in positions one to 10. The fastest non-pro car, driven by Steve Jans, Marek Böckmann and newcomer Fabian Schiller, came home 11th. The Porsche 911 GT3 R of the GIGASPEED Team GetSpeed Performance managed a second successful result in a row.
The SP9 debut of triple Le Mans winner André Lotterer though didn’t go to plan, he shared a Porsche 911 GT3 R of the KÜS Team75 Bernhard but finished well down the order after a troubled four hours together with Porsche test and development driver Lars Kern.
Lotterer took part in VLN 1 with a V5 class Porsche Cayman to complete his ‘Ring Permit and arrived at the Nürburgring directly from duties with Rebellion Racing at the FIA WEC Prologue at Paul Ricard.
The winners of the SP9 Masters category were Henry Walkenhorst, Rudi Adams and Andreas Ziegler in the BMW M6 GT3 of Walkenhorst Motorsport.
The solo Glickenhaus SCG 003C failed to finish on its season debut.
The fastest car outside the GT3 class SP9 was the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Christopher Gerhard and Ralf Schall in class H4. Final driver Schall had to give everything at the end to defend their 18th position ahead of the Porsche Carrera Cup class winners coming home just 0.967 seconds ahead of Marcel Hoppe, Moritz Kranz and Tim Scheerbarth in the Mühlner-Porsche.
Andreas Gülden from Reifferscheid nearby the Nürburgring won the TCR class with the Seat Cupra TCR of mathilda racing as a solo driver.
After the four hours race time, he relegated Thorsten Wolter, Rudolf Rhyn and Thomas Jäger in their Opel Astra TCR to second place.
The three Norwegians Håkon Schjærin, Alte Gulbrandsen and Kenneth Østvold celebrated third position with their Audi RS 3 TCR.
Championship leaders after this second VLN race are Yannick Fübrich and David Griessner of the Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport who won the BMW M235i Racing Cup class for the second time in a row. They are followed by Carsten Knechtges and Marcel Manheller in second position who, after their victory at the opening round, this time finished second in class V4.
The VLN will now take a break of eleven weeks before the series will be back with the third round. The 60th ADAC H&R-Cup will take place on 23 June and run over the traditional four hours duration.
