Nürburgring: Jasmin Preisig attacks again
SECOND SEASON IN A VW GOLF The driver from Appenzell is contesting her second Nürburgring endurance racing season in a VW Golf TCR in 2020. However, Jasmin Preisig will have to wait until the summer. The Nürburgring Endurance Series NLS (formerly VLN) was due to start on Saturday with the first four-hour race. However, due to the pandemic, the second race [...]
The Nürburgring Endurance Series NLS (formerly VLN) was due to start on Saturday with the first four-hour race. However, due to the pandemic, the second race on April 4 and the third on April 18 have also been canceled without replacement, as has the qualifying race for the Nürburgring 24 Hours that was scheduled afterwards. According to the current calendar, the season will therefore not start until June 27.
A team of two professionals
Jasmin Preisig is one of the many Swiss who regret this as an active racing driver or spectator. As in the second half of the year, the 27-year-old from the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden will be driving a Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR from Max Kruse Racing. The racing team is owned by professional footballer Max Kruse and racing driver Benjamin Leuchter. He and Jasmin are also official Volkswagen brand ambassadors in their respective countries.
After a mixed 2019 season, the team from Reinbek in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein will be competing with streamlined structures. Nordschleife icon Andy Gülden, team co-owner Beni Leuchter and Jasmin Preisig will take over at the wheel.
Class change
However, the VW Golf GTI will no longer compete in the rather sparsely populated TCR class, but in the booming SP3T. Here, the two-liter turbo cars are allowed to move more freely under the regulations. The touring car had to be modified accordingly.
Due to the significantly larger number of starters in this class, the team is hoping for more competition and, of course, more points for the overall standings. The declared goal is to win the class winner's trophy in 2020.
A victory at last?
For the Swiss driver, who still works 70% of the time at the AHV branch in Herisau, this strong line-up offers a real chance of her first class victory with a TCR car. She and Gülden missed out on this by a hair's breadth in the final race in 2019. On another previous occasion, their car led by more than a minute before Leuchter suffered an accident.
Although the daughter of garage owner Walter Preisig from Schwellbrunn still has to wait weeks for her first start, she is already looking forward to it.
Jasmin Preisig: "I think it's great that I can ride with Andy and Beni again. I can also learn a lot from both of them. I hope we can build on our good racing performance from 2019 and leave the bad luck behind us. Let's see how we do in the new SP3T class and how many cars will be on the grid there."
