24h Nürburgring: Many Swiss episodes
A LOT OF LUCK IN THE GAME Of the Swiss at the start of the Nürburgring 24 Hours, only Yannick Mettler took a class win. As our video shows, Manuel Amweg was extremely lucky in a precarious situation. And the canton of Thurgau was represented by eight drivers in the top 22! When rain and fog at the Nürburgring after 20 hours the red [...]
When rain and fog provoked the red flag at the Nürburgring after 20 hours, not many thought the race would resume. Also Yannick Mettler not.
For tactical reasons, Team Sorg Rennsport, which had been leading for so long, had brought forward a pit stop. As a result, the BMW M235i Racing with two-time VLN champion and fastest in training Michael Schrey returned to the lead shortly before the stop. Mettler had won with him in 2017.
roller coaster of emotions
But it wasn't an abort, just a two-hour interruption. As for overall winner Porsche, the finish had a happy ending for Mettler. Because the BMW of their leading opponents could not be started up in time after the forced break, it had to start from the pits. For Mettler's team, this cleared the way to a well-deserved victory.
Yannick Mettler: "We had fought our way to the front during the night and slowly gained the upper hand. At first I felt the abort was bad luck, and afterwards I almost couldn't believe that we had won after all."
With him rejoiced Fredy BarthMettler works as an instructor at his Track Days. Barth himself joined last year's FK Performance team at short notice and finished the race in sixth place with three Munich drivers on the BMW. In this constellation, Cup 5 was no longer possible in this strongly occupied class.
Luck for Manuel Amweg on the way to second place
How close luck and misfortune are to each other, experienced also Manuel Amweg. With a Toyota GT86, the team with the Aargauer was early in second place in the class SP3.
During the night, Amweg slipped on the same oil slick that was the undoing of overall leader Romain Dumas. While the Porsche GT3 R slammed heavily into the guard rails, Amweg slid past the accident site on the turf.
Just how much luck and reaction was involved is shown by the inboard video recording of Manuel Amweg, who at the end lets out a loud cry of joy at the successful action:
Amweg's team was unable to do anything against the stronger Renault Clio RS from Avia Racing, but had all the other class opponents under control.
Wedding ring instead of winner's trophy
After the early retirement of a fast Porsche 997 GT3 had Hofor Racing with its two BMW M3 in the class SP6 only a Porsche Cayman to the opponent. The latter won with a two-lap lead over the two cars of the Kroll family and friends.
At Pentecost exchanges Chantal Kroll the racing overall against a wedding dress, because she will marry her racing partner Alexander Prinz - we congratulate!
He finished his very first 24-hour race in the Philipp Hagnauer with a German and a British colleague also in second place. "Hagi" did not compete in the V6 class on a Porsche Cayman S as in the VLN, but with an unspectacular and in all situations good-natured BMW 325i in the V4 class.
Loser of the final phase
Nothing against an early termination would have Urs Bressan had. For the 14th time, the Zug resident took part in this race with Wölflick Racing, as in previous years with a Ford Mustang GT.
The technical improvements to the 500-hp V8 touring car proved to be effective, as the team was in second place in the SP8 class for hours until the forced break.
Unfortunately, two Lexus still passed the Mustang in the wet final phase. While a 991 GT3 won with two laps to spare, only 2'55 minutes separated the second from the fourth...
Second in an all-female team among three KTM X-Bow GT4s classified for themselves was Rahel Frey. Against the winning men's team, the ladies had no chance on the track, but more attention from media.
The replacement of a sensor in the Audi R8 LMS from Simon Tummer cost a lot of time. From the driver lineup, the top 15 instead of 20th place would have been possible for the rookie at the 24-hour race. Teammate Ronnie Saurenmann saw the chequered flag in 56th position with the second Audi R8 from Car Collection despite an accident.
Unbelievable happened Ruedi Rhyn and Roger Vögeliwho started in two separate teams from Lubner Motorsport. After three hours, both Opel Astra TCRs fell victim to simultaneous accidents involving their partners. The repair work threw them hopelessly behind.Vögeli's car retired completely after 10 hours.
Thurgau Long Distance Championship
No joke: The world's most successfully represented region at the Nürburgring was, alongside the local Eifel, the canton of Thurgau. The overall runners-up Manuel Metzger (Frauenfeld) and Dirk miller (Tägerwilen) did not hide their places of residence on the starting and ranking list, just as the Bottighofen native Alexander miller (11.) and Bernd Schneider (22.).
Mike Rockenfeller (12th), like Schneider an ex-DTM champion, feels at home in Altnau, Jens Klingmann (15.) and Lucas Luhr (16th) are like the absent three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner at home in Ermatingen. Except for Schneider (class winner on a new Mercedes-AMG GT), all drove GT3 sports cars.
The only native of Thurgau to be classified Philipp Frommenwiler in the third Manthey Porsche also well ahead (18th). Initially very good in the race in 7th place overall, an early accident threw him far back.
Conclusion: We don't have our own race track, but we do have a number of good racers.
