VLN: Four winners after six hours
TOLL SWISS BALANCE At the 6-hour race at the Nürburgring, which is considered the highlight of the VLN Endurance Championship, four Swiss celebrated a class victory. Among them Porsche Ticino boss Ivan Jacoma in the Cayman GT4. Increasing rain during qualifying and decreasing precipitation after the start of the 6-hour race did not exactly create a summer feeling. As the distance increased, however, the weather in the Eifel [...]
Increasing rain in qualifying and decreasing precipitation after the start of the 6-hour race did not exactly create a summer feeling. As the distance increased, however, the weather in the Eifel showed a more pleasant side. In the end, four Swiss drivers were beaming with the sun after they had been crowned class winners.
Hüppi and Jacoma contribute to Porsche's 700th victory
In twelfth place with two German partners, Willy Hüppi in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup MR was the best-placed Swiss in the overall classification. The trio won the SP7 class.
Ivan Jacoma also contributed to the Porsche brand's 700th class victory in VLN history. With his two German regular partners, the director from Porsche Centro Lugano took his first win of the season in the Cayman GT4 Trophy by Manthey-Racing in a Cayman 718 GT4 Clubsport. Initially trailing somewhat in the wet, they turned the tide in their favor over the course of the six hours with a lead of just under 16 seconds.
Yerly back on track for success
Frédéric Yerly from Fribourg and Matthias Wasel from Germany, who were supported this weekend by Roland Schmid from Basel, took it easy in practice after the accident in the last race. In the early stages, a three-way battle for the lead in the TCR class developed. With a good strategy, a flawless race and perfect pit stops, the Cupra TCR from mathilda racing took the lead after a good two and a half hours and never relinquished it.
With 21st overall, the Swiss-German trio also left all TCR cars that had started in other classes and all GT4 sports cars behind. In the VLN class winners' trophy Wasel and Yerly further extended their lead after five of nine races.
Technical bad luck for Jasmin Preisig
In the second VW Golf of Max Kruse Racing, Jasmin Preisig and Loris Prattes surprisingly qualified in the rainy qualifying for the best starting position in the TCR class. After the start, Prattes initially fought for the lead, but fell back a bit after the first pit stops.
Until shortly before the end, the mixed duo was in a safe second place in class before the Appenzeller rolled out on the Nordschleife without propulsion due to technical damage in the power transmission.
Accident instead of victory
Yannick Mettler had another class win in mind in the SP10 class of GT4 cars after he had already handed over the Mercedes-AMG from Black Falcon with a comfortable lead after just under 90 minutes. 30 minutes before the end of the race, a collision occurred between Mettler's teammate and a lapped car. The result was an immediate puncture and a long crawl back to the pits. The loss of time threw the team back to 4th place.
At least the retirement was avoided, unlike classmate Manuel Amweg. His BMW M4 GT4 finished in fourth position after being hit by a Porsche and suffering electronic problems. Because too high a boost pressure was measured afterwards, possibly a fault in the electronics, disqualification followed.
Double victory for Black Falcon
Marc Roth, Edy Kamm and Daniel Nyffeler took their Audi A3 over the full distance in fourth place out of nine teams in the H2 class. Gustavo Xavier and Ranko Mijatovic finished their first 6-hour race with a BMW M240i Racing Cup in ninth place among 17 starters in the Cup 5 class.
Overall victory went to the local Black Falcon team with Patrick Assenheimer and Maro Engel for the tenth time in a VLN race. At the finish, their lead over their teammates (both Mercedes-AMG GT3) was just 35.8 seconds.
