24H Series: Championship title for Martin Kroll
TOP PARTNERSHIP Martin Kroll from Aargau, driving a BMW M235i entered by Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport, won all the endurance races for touring cars (TCE) contested in the 24H Series in Europe and overseas. With a GT3 Mercedes, Hofor Racing with Michael and Chantal Kroll at the helm of the 24H Series, an endurance racing series for semi-professional and private teams, pushed [...]
With a GT3 Mercedes, Hofor Racing with Michael and Chantal Kroll at the helm made its mark on the 24H Series, an endurance racing series for semi-professional and private teams, in the last few years. Because the regulations changed for 2018, the team from Aargau was no longer aiming to defend its title after winning all the classifications last year.
Father and daughter Kroll (married Prinz-Kroll since May), Roland Eggimann, Christiaan Frankenhout and Kenneth Heyer competed in Dubai (accident) and in five of the six European races. The team celebrated two second-place finishes in Europe in the A6 class and took third place in the European championship for GT3 teams and drivers.
Swiss-German partnership
In 2018, it was Michael's younger brother Martin Kroll who scored big in terms of class victories and championship titles. To this end, the owner of a riding stable in Eggenwil linked up with a German team for logistical reasons.
Under the bid Hofor Racing powered by Bonk motorsport, the two partners entered one to two BMW M235i Racing Cup in all races for the 24H TCE Series for touring cars. The team won all seven races in the Cup1 class. Five counted towards the European Championship (24h Silverstone, 12h Imola, 24h Portimão, 24h Barcelona and 12h Spa), three towards the Intercontinental Championship (24h Dubai, 24h Portimão and 24h Circuit of the Americas).
Only one title narrowly slipped through the cracks
The successful car with starting number #131 is the winning car of Michael Schrey in the VLN Championship Nürburgring 2016 and 2017. Martin Kroll bought this BMW and could thereafter continue to count on the driving support of the German VLN double champion. Third regular driver was the paraplegic Austrian Gustlav Engljähringer, fourth man was junior Michael Fischer and fifth in some races was Kroll's German VLN entry partner Bernd Küpper.
In almost all possible classifications Hofor Racing powered by Bonk Motorsport won the championship title as a team and with the regular quartet. Only in the intercontinental TCE series for drivers did the Finnish TCR duo Buri/Laaksonen prevail by three points thanks to the higher-scoring class victories in Portugal and the USA.
Martin Kroll: "Except for a few moments, the season went perfectly. It was a special challenge as a newly formed team, but we harmonized super well. We practiced getting in and out of the car with our wheelchair driver until the driver changes were as fast as the tire changes in the end."
The only regret Martin Kroll has is the lack of opponents. At no race except the Dubai 24 Hours (five) did the Cup1 class consist of more than two or three BMW teams.
Martin Kroll: "Too bad, but this we could not influence. The entry fee for small teams is just relatively high, also the minimum driving time for each driver. For this reason, we are stopping. The BMW now goes into our collection."
Entry into the new ADAC GT4 Masters
Martin Kroll has acquired two new BMW M4 GT4s for this purpose. These will be used in the new ADAC GT4 Masters 2019 under the application Hofor Racing by Bonk motorsport.
Kroll is concentrating here on the role of team manager. He can name Michael Schrey as the first of the four drivers in teams of two.
In cooperation with Bonk, participation in the 24H Series will continue with a BMW GT4. The goal is clear: to win all the titles in 2019.
