VLN: Yannick Mettler rides a wave of success
STRONG SWISSERS Several Swiss drivers took class victories at the third round of the VLN at the Nürburgring. The first half of the 2018 season has been particularly successful so far for Lucerne-based BMW driver Yannick Mettler. After an eleven-week break, interrupted by the Nürburgring 24 Hours in May, the VLN Endurance Championship continued on June 23 with the third round of the season. The race, which was contested with Chinese [...]
After an eleven-week break, interrupted by the Nürburgring 24 Hours in May, the VLN Endurance Championship resumed on June 23 with the third round of the season.
Swiss driver Alexandre Imperatori, who competes under a Chinese license, finished fourth overall and third in the SP9-Pro class in the BMW M6 GT3 fielded by Falken Motorsport. He missed out on the podium by just under eight seconds.
Six days after his brilliant second place in the LPM2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Jonathan Hirschi returned to Team Walkenhorst Motorsport. With a Briton and a Frenchman as partners, the driver from Neuchâtel drove a BMW M6 GT3 to fifth place in SP9-Pro and sixth overall.
Loud podium places for Yannick Mettler
Yannick Mettler is currently riding a wave of success. With his German regular partner Heiko Eichenberg, the Lucerne native took victory in the SP10 class with the BMW M4 GT4 from Securtal Sorg Rennsport, as he did in the VLN2 race.
Most recently, Mettler celebrated his second class win since 2017 at the 24-hour race in a BMW M235i Racing Cup, and before that he finished second at the 24 Hours of Dubai, VLN1 and the 6-hour qualifying race for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
However, the omens for the latest success were not good.
Yannick Mettler: "Compared to the previous races, we had to load 70 kg of additional weight and had about 20 hp less power available. That's quite a cut. So we didn't really know where we would stand compared to the competition. But since we're getting to know the M4 better with every kilometer and are constantly developing it further, it didn't make that much of a difference this time. I'm curious to see how it will look in the long term."
In the 2018 VLN Championship, the duo occupies twelfth intermediate place among 564 drivers classified so far after three of the nine races.
Successful return of Mathias Schläppi
Three years after his last start, Mathias Schläppi returned to the VLN as driver and team boss. For his customer Holger Goedicke, Schläppi Race-Tec fielded the screw Clio, which is almost regarded with cult status in VLN circles. With pole position and the fastest race lap, Schläppi and Goedicke's victory over their three opponents in the SP3 class was undisputed.
With a new and in the VLN renowned team - Pixum Adrenalin Motorsport - Manuel Amweg found shelter and proved that he also knows how to handle a BMW M4 GT4 well. With two German partners, the GT86 champion from 2016 and 2017 also came to class victory in the SP8T class over two other competitors.
Philip, on the other hand, had to leave only one opponent behind him in the V3 production car class with a Toyota GT86. For the driver from Zug, who competes with a British license, the main objective is to gain Nürburgring experience in order to obtain the permit for future starts with the Audi R8 from Phoenix Racing.
Arriving at the finish line has top priority
Philipp Hagnauer took a roundabout route to second place in the most powerful production car class, V6. The starting driver, who had started from the best position, had to let the whole field pass him due to a slip.
Hagi" and his two partners then drove the Porsche Cayman S up to third position and gained one more place due to the retirement of a brand colleague on the final lap. The driver from Allschwil had to complete the last lap at the end of the four hours with an almost empty tank to save fuel and avoid falling behind himself.
Max Langenegger and Bernhard Badertscher experienced that this must be avoided in order to be classified at all, let alone to win. After the best time in practice and the fastest race lap, they retired after 13 laps in the SP2T class in the lead with a broken drive shaft on the Peugeot RCZ Cup.
Third places in their classes went to Ivan Jacoma on a Porsche Cayman GT4 CS in the Cup 3 class and the all-Swiss team of Roland Schmid, Roger Vögeli and Frédéric Yerly in the TCR class. For the Reinach-based Honda Racing Team Schmid, it was the first start of the season with the Honda Civic Type R TCR fitted with an update package at JAS Motorsport in Italy.
