Before we begin the report on last Saturdays race we first need to bring you the news that the result from the VLN season-opening 60th Westfalenfahrt has been changed. Due to an incorrectly-shown red flag on Lap 26, some cars slowed down to the mandatory speed and lost valuable time and places, thus leading to a changed classification. After discussions with the drivers’ representative and the marshal who showed the red flag, it was determined that it was due to circumstance beyond anyone’s control, so the decision was taken to classify the race after 24 laps, which has resulted in a changed overall podium. The win stays with Marc Basseng, Frank Stippler and Laurens Vanthoor but the cars in P2 and P3 have changed. Finishing second now is the BMW Z4 GT3 of Uwe Alzen and Philipp Wlazik, who two weeks ago had to park their car after 25 laps due to a puncture. Falling back to third is the Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen, Andreas Simonsen and Lance-David Arnold.
Now back to the 39th DMV 4 Stunden Rennen, where qualifying showed that it’s just a matter of time until the eight-minute barrier will be broken. Nico Bastian laid down an 8:01.441 to take pole in the Rowe Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, while a surprising second place went to the Wochenspiegel Team Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, where Jochen Krumbach set the pace with an 8:03.535. The second row belonged to the Alzen family, with Uwe’s BMW Z4 qualifying one place ahead of his brother Jürgen’s Ford GT. Row 3 went to the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Frikadelli Racing Team and Falken Motorsports. Seventh went to the TwinBusch Audi, ahead of the Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 of Stuart Leonard and Paul Wilson. The final top ten spots went to one of the Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultras and one of the Walkenhorst BMW Z4 GT3s.
When the lights went green Christian Hohenadel, starting the Rowe-SLS, had to defend his lead against Oliver Kainz in the Wochenspiegel RSR. Charging from the back was Patrick Huisman in the Frikadelli-Racing 911, while Uwe Alzen was another man on a mission; he and Huisman putting a lot of pressure on the leading two cars. When the cars got back onto the Döttinger Höhe, Huisman was able to use his slipstream to get past the two cars ahead of him, taking the lead. After shooting to the front the Dutch driver was able to pull away from his enemies and held a lead of 4.5 seconds after two laps, but his pursuers pegged the gap and his advantage never went beyond five seconds.
Falken starting driver Martin Ragginger was another 911 driver charging hard, moving into P4 on Lap 2 and two laps later taking the final podium step. Oliver Kainz kept on falling backwards, having also let Uwe Alzen get past him. During Lap 5 Christian Hohenadel was able to take the lead, but once again Patrick Huisman was able to get by the SLS once the cars hit the Döttinger Höhe.
Just minutes after this manoeuvre, the race was red flagged. Coming into the second Pflanzgarten Jump, Steve Jans, aboard the GetSpeed Performance Porsche, got sideways after hitting the curb while lapping the Mathilda Racing VW Scirocco. Constantin Kletzer in the Scirocco couldn’t avoid the spinning 911 and became airborne. Kletzer’s Scirocco flew over the Armco, coming to rest in the woods, while Jans’ 911 stopped along the run-off area. Thankfully, both drivers were able to avoid serious injury. Jans left the medical centre shortly after arriving there, while Kletzer was flown to Koblenz in order to be checked for a possible back injury, leaving the hospital on Saturday night.
With a total of 80 meters of Armco having to be replaced, the race was stopped for over three hours in total. The cars started rolling again at 4.15pm, with two formation laps being held to allow the work at Pflanzgarten to be finished. With the first part of the race lasting for 42 minutes, it was decided that the second part of the race would run for two hours and that the clock would start running again once the first car went into the second formation lap. Full championship points would be awarded, but it was also decided that not all drivers had to drive in the race.
When the safety car pulled into the pits, Patrick Pilet in the Frikadelli Racing Porsche started to pull away from his pursuers, finishing the first flying lap with a 6.6s lead over the Rowe SLS of Nico Bastian, who was himself under pressure from Martin Ragginger in the Falken 911; the Austrian passing the gullwing at the start of the next lap. Fourth place was held by the Wochenspiegel-RSR, ahead of the three BMW Z4s of Alzen, Schubert and Schubert. Also charging hard, and coming from outside the top ten, was the Phoenix Racing Audi of Marcel Fässler and Markus Winkelhock, which was soon up to sixth. Also having a good restart was the Leonard/ Wilson Vantage.
All of the cars had to do at least one pit stop in the second part of the race and, once all the cars had cycled through, the Fässler/ Winkelhock was the leader on track; but due to its disadvantage of about 21 seconds from the first part, the actual leader was the Frikadelli Racing Porsche. Fässler couldn’t make up the gap before the chequered flag came out and so the victory went to Patrick Pilet, Patrick Huisman, Sabine Schmitz and Klaus Abbelen, even though only Pilet and Huisman took the wheel during the race.
After winning the season opener the Phoenix Racing Audi finished in second, with Marcel Fässler and Markus Winkelhock behind the wheel. A fine third place went to Martin Ragginger and Alexandre Imperatori in the Falken-Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. Coming just one week after their shell-damaging crash in the RCN, it was a welcome reward for the team’s hard work.
The Wochenspiegel-RSR was fourth, ahead of the Marc VDS #25, the Schubert #20 and the Uwe Alzen Z4. The second Phoenix R8 finished in eighth, one place ahead of the TwinBusch R8. The final top ten spot went to the second Schubert Z4. After being on its way to a top ten finish, the Wilson/ Leonard Aston Martin had to retire on the penultimate lap with a puncture.
The next round of VLN takes place on April 26th.
Race result – here
Sören Herweg
