VLN: Victory and GT4 title for Yannick Mettler 🎥
PERFECT SEASON With their fifth victory of the season at the VLN finale at the Nürburgring, Yannick Mettler and partner Heiko Eichenberg secured the GT4 title in a BMW M4. Five other Swiss drivers took class victories. The 2018 VLN Championship at the Nürburgring ended with more Swiss successes than at any previous round. Leading the list is Yannick [...]
The 2018 VLN Championship at the Nürburgring ended with more Swiss successes than at any previous round. The list is headed by Yannick Mettler.
For the Lucerne native and his German partner Heiko Eichenberger, overall victory in 2018 was theoretically still in the cards. The duo won the SP10 GT4 class for the fifth time in nine races with their BMW M4. However, due to the reduced class strength at the end of the season and the strike results, the pair fell back to sixth place in the standings.
Title fight with a Mercedes
In the internal championship of the GT4 cars, the final 4-hour race last Saturday saw a showdown between the BMW M4 of 828 Racing by Sorg Rennsport and the Mercedes-AMG of Black Falcon.
During the race, the two rivals remained within sight of the class lead, which the Mercedes maintained. When the latter encountered problems, the way was clear for Mettler and Eichenberg.
For the former Formula 3 driver, it is the first championship title of his career.
Yannick Mettler: "I'm really happy about this success and can't really believe it yet. It's the crowning achievement of an already perfect season with five victories and four second places. Added to this was victory in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and second place in the Dubai 24 Hours. Our expectations were exceeded by far. For that I would like to thank Heiko, Sorg Rennsport and all my partners and sponsors."
Yannick Mettler tells us more in an interview with the local channel Tele 1:
https://www.facebook.com/Tele1.ZF/videos/1744966378959184/
Jacoma equals Swiss class win record
The second consecutive victory was celebrated by Ivan Jacoma with German Claudius Karch in a Porsche Cayman GT4 CS in the Cup 3 class, the VLN Trophy organized by Manthey Racing.
For the Ticino native from Porsche Centro Lugano, it is already the 28th VLN victory. He thus catches up with Max Langenegger as the Swiss with the most successes.
As last time at the second VLN race in 2018, Michael and Martin Kroll together with Roland Eggimann on the BMW M3 GTR of Hofor Racing decided the class SP6 (VLN Specials 3000 to 3500 ccm) for themselves.
Fässler wins with the new Audi R8 GT3
The fourth Swiss class victory was clinched by professional Marcel Fässler. As reported, the driver from Schwyz started in Team Montaplast by Land Motorsport and Belgian Frédéric Vervisch as his partner with a new Audi R8 LMS. Because Audi's latest GT3 sports car has not yet been homologated, it was classified in the SP-X class together with a Porsche and a Renault RS01.
Fässler/Vervisch won the class with a lead of 4'36 minutes. Despite a handicap (start from the end of the pit lane and extended pit stop), the duo finished seventh overall, just two and a half minutes behind the winning Porsche from Falken Motorsport with Klaus Bachler and Martin Ragginger.
In the SP3 class (up to two liters), Manuel Amweg and Dominic Tranchet came in a nice second place with the Toyota GT86 from Milltek Racing. For Tranchet, a good premiere on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.
