Jasmin Preisig cracks the top ten
TOURENWAGEN In the middle of summer, Jasmin Preisig also experienced a high. At the Nürburgring, she drove her Opel Astra to 10th place in the German TCR Championship. Jeffrey Schmidt was on the podium in third place in the ADAC GT Masters. In automotive racing, the first two weekends of August were pretty quiet in Europe. Like Formula 1 [...]
In automotive racing, the first two weekends of August were pretty quiet in Europe. Like Formula 1, many other championships are giving their participants (and journalists, too...) a short summer break. The only exception was ADAC with the GT Masters and TCR Germany from August 4 to 6 at the Nürburgring.
The most successful of the eight Swiss in GT3 was Jeffrey Schmidt. In Sunday's one-hour race, the Liestaler drove to third place with partner Christopher Haase in the Audi R8 LMS from Land Motorsport. The second podium in a row for the up-and-coming Swiss after second place at Zandvoort.
Patric Niederhauser experienced his best GT weekend to date with a fourth and fifth place in another Aust Motorsport Audi R8. In both races, the driver from Bern also helped his young German teammate Dennis Marschall to second and third place in the Junior classification, so that he was able to join him on the podium twice.
Strong performance by Jasmin Preisig
Of the eight Swiss drivers in the ADAC TCR Germany, Jasmin Preisig made the strongest impression. In 13th place among 38 (!) men, she missed out on the top 12 qualifying spot by just a hundredth of a second in her Opel Astra TCR.
After losing three positions in the first race, the Appenzeller made up just as many in the second. Thus, the Opel Scheiz-backed racer managed to jump into the top ten for the first time in tenth place, directly behind her compatriot Fabian Danz in a Seat Leon TCR. Preisig had previously finished in the points for the first time in 19th place in Race 2 at the Red Bull Ring.
Jasmin Preisig: "After achieving this first goal of the season in Austria, a top-10 finish was my big wish, especially as the Nürburgring is already my favorite track from the VLN. This is certainly my most valuable result so far."
Like Danz and Preisig, Pascal Eberle finished in the points twice in his Seat Leon TCR in 13th and 12th place. In tenth place, Eberle is the best-placed Swiss in the championship ahead of Florian Thoma on a VW Golf, who had ensured the only Swiss success to date in Race 2 at the season opener in Oschersleben in April.
ETCC champion Kris Richard (Hona Civic) and Ronny Jost (Seat Leon), who finished third once at the 2016 finale at Hockenheim, have been beaten well below their value so far due to many incidents through no fault of their own.
The last two ADAC motorsport weekends with GT Masters and TCR Germany will take place at the Sachsenring in mid-September and at Hockenheim from September 22 to 24.
