VLN: A good start to the season for Nico Müller
PODIUM WITH NEW TEAM Nico Müller finished his first race with the new Audi Sport Team Mücke in second place overall together with Markus Winkelhock at the season opener of the Endurance Championship Nürburgring (VLN). Several Swiss clinched top positions in their classes. After wintry conditions before the first VLN event, its staging was not certain until two days before. Although there [...]
After wintry conditions before the first VLN event, its staging was not certain until two days beforehand. Although it remained cold, ideal conditions prevailed in the race with sunshine.
This season opener also went almost perfectly for Nico Müller. The Audi factory driver from Bern drove for the first time for the Berlin-based Mücke Motorsport team, which has the same eye-catching sponsor as Force India in Formula 1 or his compatriot Edoardo Mortara at Mercedes in the DTM.
After Müller and his German partner Markus Winkelhock failed to get a good lap in traffic during qualifying and only started 16th in their pink Audi R8 LMS, they fought their way up to second position during the four hours. Only the Manthey Porsche with Bamber/Estre/Vanthoor finished 52 seconds ahead of them.
However, the success should not be overrated, as none of the many GT3 teams present pulled out all the stops in order not to be classified worse for the Nürburgring 24-hour race on May 12/13. Müller will contest the marathon with Team Phoenix. His WRT teammate from last year, Marcel Fässler, will drive for Mücke.
Around seven seconds behind the Audi, Edoardo Mortara finished as the final runner in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Without losing time due to caution phases, he could have clinched his first VLN podium.
Strong GT4 debut from Yannick Mettler
Yannick Mettler also finished second in his race debut in the SP10 GT4 sports car class. After electronic problems in practice, the BMW M4 GT4 of the Lucerne native and his new partner Heiko Eichenberg ran flawlessly. The joy over the immediate podium was correspondingly great.
Ruedi Rhyn experienced a similar feeling of happiness at his first start with an Opel Astra TCR. With a German and an Austrian colleague, he also finished second in the strong TCR class.
Alex Fontana also survived his VLN premiere quite well with eighth place among 19 competitors on identical BMW M235i Racing in the Cup 5 class.
Max Langenegger and Bernhard Badertscher were responsible for the only Swiss victory. Although the Bernese had only a Renault Clio IV as their opponent in the SP2T class, they had a new car in the form of the Peugeot RCZ, which they took over the distance with a lead of 4'14 minutes.
In the SP7 class, Willy Hüppi finished a good third in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
After setting the fastest time in the V6 class, Philipp Hagnauer's German colleague had to park the Porsche Cayman S with rim damage. Ivan Jacoma, who switched to the Cuo 3 class with a Cayman GT4 CS, also had to retire early.
