Run VLN, July 13, 2019
After the 24-hour race at Nürburgring, the 4th round of the VLN endurance championship continued directly on July 13th. All the emotions from the 24-hour race had been processed and the teams„ energy tanks were full again. After the first VLN rounds are known for the quick acquisition of the Nordschleife permit, the field thinned out a bit after the mega-event. The first race after the big 24-hour race in the “Green Hell" is THE highlight for the smaller vehicles.
The Walkenhorst Motorsport team with the driver trio Krognes/Pittard/Fanin not only shone with a victory at the 24-hour qualifying race, but also impressed at the Adenauer ADAC Round Track Trophy with a time of 7:59.711 minutes in the fourth lap to secure pole position in training. However, the cards were reshuffled during the race.
The drivers of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Black Falcon Team AutoArena Motorsport fought their way from third place in practice, 2.023 seconds behind, to the very front and beamed as winners on the podium. Experienced VLN drivers Patrick Assenheimer and Manuel Metzger felt a weight lifted off their shoulders. „After having a lot of bad luck at the 24h race, the VLN victory was the right response,“ said Manuel Metzger. „Patrick drove a very strong double stint in the opening phase. I then had a hard but always fair duel with Philip Ellis in the final phase.“ Competitor Philip Ellis, along with teammate Marek Böckmann from Team GetSpeed Performance in a Mercedes-AMG GT3, defended his second place from practice and accepted his unchanged finishing position with composure: „That was a mega fight at the end. We battled. Even though there were minor touches, it was very fair and respectful. In the end, I couldn't hold on, even though I tried everything. Nevertheless, second place is a sensational result for me and the whole team. You mustn't forget that GetSpeed only switched to Mercedes-AMG this year and is only in its second season in the GT3 class.“
The Walkenhorst Motorsport team lost ground to the BLACK FALCON Team AutoArena Motorsport during a driver swap and dropped from pole position in the BMW M6 GT3 to third place overall. „Achieving a podium finish in the VLN is a great success. Even though victory or second place might have been possible, I'm not unhappy,“ said David Pittard. „Our pace was perfect and the tires worked well – we were in contention at the front. In three weeks, we'll be competing with the same lineup. We'll see what's possible then.“
Time to shine
Even though you can search in vain for small vehicles on the VLN starting list, we always enjoy the well-attended V-classes. With 24 cars starting, the V4 class is the most strongly represented. What stands out: it's the big hour for the BMW 325i. The Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport, with Philipp Leisen, Danny Brink, and Christopher Rink, confidently dominated the popular production car class. With a fastest lap of 9:47.348 minutes on lap 19, they prevailed against the AVIA Sorg Rennsport team from Wuppertal. In the V5 class, Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport also scored points with a Porsche Cayman. The winning team, featuring Norbert Fischer, Daniel Zils, and Oskar Sandberg, once again took the crown in this VLN race. After 3:27:45.41 hours and a fastest lap of 9:17.418 minutes on lap three, we expect further „good news“ from the driver trio.