Arpad Viszokay and Adam Lengyel (BMW M4 GT4 F82) achieved overall victory in the fifth round of the DMV NES 500. The duo prevailed at the Nürburgring against their brand colleagues Kortüm/Luther/Schmickler (BMW M4 GT4 G82) and van den Munckhof/Poland/Barten (KK BMW M2 GTR).
After the victory at the Lausitzring, Arpad Viszokay and Adam Lengyel immediately followed up with their next. At the Nürburgring, the Hungarian BMW duo achieved an overall victory that was essentially never in danger. “We had an amazing race. The car ran perfectly and the team did a great job. Towards the end of the race the lead became a little smaller, but we always knew exactly where we were. We focused on getting the car home safely. We managed that well,” said Adam Lengyel.
The excitement actually only came towards the end of the race, when Markus Schmickler reduced the gap to less than ten seconds within just a few laps. Two time penalties almost decided the race. Because both Viszokay/Lengyel and Kortüm/Luther/Schmickler stopped too short. The winners were given ten seconds and the runners-up were given an extra 15 seconds. So everything stayed the same. “Today’s race was basically quite unspectacular. In the end I was able to shorten the distance. If the race had lasted a few more laps, I might have gotten there. But we’re happy with second place,” said Markus Schmickler. Also in the same round and thus in third place - the trio van den Munckhof/Poland/Barten. The Dutch benefited from consistent times, which gave them the decisive advantage over their pursuers.
Victory for Lauck/Bauer/Sommershof in the NES 7
Lauck/Bauer/Sommershof took victory in the NES 7, which was full of eight participants, and fourth place overall in the Porsche Cayman GT4. The experienced Manuel Lauck supported his two protégés, who were racing in their first race in the Eifel. In the early stages, Lauck was able to temporarily take fourth overall position before his two young teammates took over. For the final stint, Lauck climbed into the cockpit again and completed the race confidently. “I was hoping that I could follow Heiko Hammel. But that wasn't entirely possible. We were ranked fourth and second in the class. The two guys who rode with me were doing their first race ever that weekend. They mastered it brilliantly without making any mistakes,” said Lauck. “We are happy that we arrived in the third race this weekend without any damage or spin. The race pace could have been a little higher, but we're working on it. The fact that we managed to get P1 is of course great,” said Florian Bauer, happy about the surprising result.
The most excitement came after the race. The dispute was the exact interpretation of the regulations and in the end the sports stewards decided that both Hammel/Nehls (Opel Astra TCR) and Henriksen/Vodder (Audi RS3 LMS TCR) had completed their last mandatory stop too late. Although the entry was still in the pit stop window, the exit was not. That meant 420 penalty seconds, which dropped the teams to second and third place in the NES 7.
Strenuous final sprint
Sarah Ganser was exhausted after crossing the finish line. The racing driver gave everything in the Seat Leon Mk2 and secured her first class victory. After bad luck in the second race in Zolder, a successful comeback. “It was extreme at the end because we had big problems with the brakes. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. At the end there were problems with the fuel. I then got behind our E 90 for a lap. I had to see how I could get to the finish,” said Sarah Ganser. Jan Hendrik Heimbach laid the foundation for success with a strong initial phase. In the first part of the race, Baum/Mühlich/Driescher/Neuhauser were in the lead with their BMW M240i RC-Evo. But Heimbach got closer and closer and put the class leader under pressure. When he spun, the Seat driver was over. “I started to overtake on the outside and saw how he had lost control of the vehicle exiting the curve. Luckily we had no contact. We took advantage of this in terms of time. “It was a great weekend, especially since we drove through it for the first time,” said Heimbach. In the end, the gap narrowed to just under eleven seconds, with the BMW quartet finishing tenth overall.
Despite a poor starting position a class victory
If Christian Ladurner hadn't worn a helmet, tooth marks would probably have been visible on the steering wheel. The VW Scirocco driver had had a strong start when problems suddenly arose. As it turned out, problems with the spark plugs and ignition coil caused the additional pit stop. “I had a great start and was able to quickly move up to sixth position. I was able to stick with the TCR in front of me and set good times. Unfortunately, problems arose with the spark plugs,” reported Christian Ladurner about the start of the race. Once these were swapped, the race to catch up began. Here luck also played into Christian Ladurner and Pia Ohlsson's hands. Because the competition didn't run smoothly either. They moved up to eleventh place overall, which gave the duo a commanding class victory ahead of Alpiger/Leissing and Nawroth/Rupp/Oehler (both BMW M240i RC). “The pit crew did a great job with the additional stop and it went pretty quickly. Then we started our race to catch up. Due to problems from another team, we still came in first place. “I’m also happy with my stint, I was able to set good times and catch up,” said Pia Ohlsson.
In the NES 3, Obermann/Rosam/Bock (BMW 325iS E90) drove to victory one lap ahead of Harz/Nikelsen (BMW 325iS E90) and Poland/Poland (BMW 325i E36). Max Rosam laid the foundation with a strong initial phase. Towards the end, class victory was almost in jeopardy when problems arose with the rear axle. “The car didn’t feel as good anymore. I also slowed down significantly because it was close to the end. I just wanted to get the car to the finish safely,” reported Christian Bock. In the NES 1 + 2 the victory went to Switzerland again. Igor Rodella and Tobias Schmidlin (Suzuki Swift Sport) celebrated a confident class victory ahead of Koch/Ebner/Ludwig and Schmid/Schmid (both BMW 318ti Cup).
The seasonfinal of DMV NES 500 takes place from 21.-22. Oktober in Zandvoort!
Photos & Text: arpRedaktionsbüro Patrick Holzer