Third win of the season for Viszokay/Lengyel/Piana
Racereport Assen 11.06.2022
In the fourth round of the DMV NES 500 there was a sovereign victory for Viszokay/Lengyel/Piana (BMW M4 GT4). The trio won with a one-lap lead over Poland/Barten (KK BMW M2 GTR) and Xavier/Dawson/Constantini (VW Golf GTI TCR). It was the third win in a row.
After the drama finale at the last race in Zandvoort, Arpad Viszokay, Adam Lengyel and Gabriele Piana achieved their third success of the season a little more relaxed. There was only a brief tingle when Piana was hit with a drive through shortly before the end. The trio could get over it. With consistently fast times, the first-placed riders had a sufficient gap to second place. After three hours, a flawless start and finish victory was recorded. “The track limits are per car, not per driver. Here it is difficult with the track limits. We lost time through the drive trough, but we've already built up a big cushion. In the end I never drove at the limit. It wouldn't have made sense as we had a good lead. It's a good car and a good team,” said Piana.
Just as confidently as the winners, Maik Barten and Marco Poland in the Munckhof Racing BMW finished second in the overall standings. The duo only had to give way to the TCR Golf from Max Kruse Racing for a short time in the beginning. After the first pit stop phase, the two Dutchmen fell behind Luther/Schmickler/Kortüm (BMW M4 GT4) and Petry/Kiedrowski (BMW M3 E90), but were able to consolidate second position from lap 69 onwards. With a lap lead in third place, the M2 saw the black and white checkered flag.
Tension for third place
Several candidates came into question for the last remaining place on the podium. Twelve minutes before the end of the race it looked as if Luther/Schmickler/Kortüm could finish third on the podium. The three BMW drivers had a lead over Xavier/Dawson/Constantini and Petry/Kiedrowski. But shortly thereafter, the M4 came to the pits for a tire change. The tires had hardly any grip, which meant that the targeted podium place was gone. There was a showdown between Max Kruse Racing and the M3 from Petry/Kiedrowski. Two laps before the end, Jan Kiedrowski passed the Golf. In doing so, he touched the TCR, whereupon it spun. The BMW crossed the finish line in third place. Disillusionment soon followed. There was a 30 second penalty for speeding Code 60. The place on the podium was passé. Xavier/Dawson/Constantini got it. “It was an intense race, but it was a lot of fun. The battles in the field were great today. It's great for us in the championship, although it's a shame that Nehls/Hammel couldn't drive. We scored great and now have a good lead,” said a satisfied Gustavo Xavier.
Despite the penalty, Petry/Kiedrowski managed fourth place in the overall classification and third place in the well-filled NES 9. Thus, Daedelow/Schrey/Tausch were kept behind in their second outing in the East Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 MR. "It was a bit difficult. Marco started. We had decided that we would drive for a long time. That wasn't such a great tactic. We dropped from second to seventh place and couldn't keep up. Unfortunately, I later touched the TCR Golf. We met on the inside corner. I came from the outside, expecting him to give me space. I tapped him lightly once, which made him turn away. I've already apologized. A racing accident, it was a bit unfortunate,” said Jan Kiedrowski.
Ohlsson/Eis achieves first win of the season
Things just hadn't gone smoothly for Pia Ohlsson and Philipp Eis (VW Scirocco Cup R) this season. In Assen, the duo returned with a win in the NES 5. In a tight race, the Scirocco crew prevailed over the Renault Clio 4 of Rob Nieman and Simon Knap in a gripping final phase. With three laps to go, Eis ousted the Clio from first in class. Even the early stages of the race were strong , as Eis battled with the big cars of the NES 9. In the end, the team rewarded itself for the strong performance. Third place in the NES 5 went to Manderveld/Knap (Renault Clio 4). “At the end I tried to really push again and basically passed on the brakes. In the fast links I picked up more momentum and was able to overtake. It was a lot of fun with the boys. It was a really nice race that we needed now. We've had enough bad luck so far this year," said Eis. His teammate Pia Ohlsson added: “Unfortunately, we had a lot of technical problems at the beginning of the season, which was not our fault. So it's really good today that we were able to drive the race without any problems. We were finally able to show that we can compete at the front.”
In the NES 3, Alex Pawlow and Thomas Röpke (BMW 328i E36) won. The first phase of the race was particularly exciting, when Pavlov dueled with his teammates Heidrich/Volmer (BMW 328i E36). After a collision, the race was over for Heidrich/Volmer. Nevertheless, in the end it was still third place in the class. Second place in the NES 3 went to Bock/Obermann/Blum in the Awesome Racing BMW 325iS E90. The NES 1 saw another victory for the Suzuki crew from Saner Performance. Igor Rodella and Tobias Schmidlin won ahead of the father-daughter trio Hermann/Hermann/Hermann (BMW 318ti Cup).
The next DMV NES 500 Race takes place from 15.-16. July in Spa-Francorchamps.
Pictures & Text: arpRedaktionsbüro Patrick Holzer
