Luck, bad luck, tragedy and triumph, drama and jubilation, a mild overstatement perhaps but the three-way battle for the overall VLN title had a little bit of all of it in the fog-shortened 3 hours and 15 minutes of NLS 9 on Saturday.
In the end, the team that started the final race third in the points standings took the title – defending champions Danny Brink and Philipp Leisen from Adrenalin Motorsport Team Alzner Automotive, who drove with Christopher Rink in the #1 V4 BMW, won their third NLS title after taking the title in both 2018 and 2020.
“Today was a rollercoaster of emotions. I can’t describe it any other way. This is unbelievable. You have to honestly admit that we are happy to win. It’s a bit difficult for me because I would have really been delighted if our VT2 team had won too, ”said team boss Matthias Unger in disbelief, who first had to watch championship contenders Christopher Rink and Philipp Stahlschmidt drop back with a puncture with 81 minutes to go while they were again leading the VT2 class in the #481 BMW 330i of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Alzner Automotive.
Now the way was clear for Daniel Blickle, Tim Scheerbarth and Max Kronberg from Cup 3 in the #960 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS.
They too had fought their way to the top in their class from tenth on the grid in the Cayman GT4 Trophy by Manthey-Racing.
Suddenly they had their hands on the championship trophy. But a catastrophic error cost the trio of drivers from W&S Motorsport the title as they completed the race with their minimum pit times 1.5 seconds short of what was required – A stop and go penalty would be enough to cost them the class win and the title!
“I thought it was all over for us,” said Danny Brink. “I drove for fun. Shortly before Döttinger Höhe I was told over the radio to bring the old and new number one home. I thought they were kidding me. I couldn’t believe it until the last second.
“We won the title with three people. It was a tough decision for Christopher because he loves the car and because we are a well-coordinated team. He understandably tried to bet on the class with the most starters,”, he said about his team-mate Rink, who ultimately bet on the wrong horse, switching to the VT2 car and missing out on the title.
Brink and Leisen then took an eighth class win with Rink in the eighth race of the season. “It’s unbelievable, just unbelievable. I came here this morning with no expectations whatsoever. We drove completely carefree and free. It was actually clear to me that this could no longer work. In the end, we made one less mistake than the others, ”said Philipp Leisen – that was ultimately the motto of the entire race.
