With rain, fog and low temperatures, Martin Tomczyk, Dirk Adorf and Jens Klingmann came second with their Frozen Black BMW Z4 GT3 (car number 20) in the second VLN round of the season.
Audi’s Marcel Fässler and Frank Stippler claimed victory at the 55th ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup. The BMW trio took the chequered flag after four hours of racing with a gap of 59 seconds to the winners. Adorf completed the first stint in wet conditions and with low visibility. Afterwards Tomczyk gained several positions as the track dried out before handing over the wheel to final-stint driver Klingmann. The no. 19 BMW Z4 GT3, driven by Dirk Müller and Augusto Farfus, also worked its way up to the front after starting from 24th on the grid. Ultimately the pairing came eighth. One place ahead of the two BMW Team Schubert drivers, the BMW Z4 GT3 of Uwe Alzen and his team crossed the line in seventh after leading the race for many laps. Markus Palttala, Henri Moser and Richard Göransson were the best-placed drivers from BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS, crossing the line with their BMW Z4 GT3 in 12th.
Stefan Wendl (Team Manager, BMW Team Schubert): “Conditions were really difficult and tricky today – even if you judge them by Eifel standards at this time of the year. That’s why it’s difficult to draw any conclusions with regard to the 24-hour race on the basis of today’s results. We used this race as a test and were able to try some different strategies with changeable conditions. Nevertheless, we are delighted with this strong result. This shows we are on the right path. Having said that, there’s obviously still a lot of work to do before the 24-hour race.”
Dirk Adorf: “Conditions at the start were difficult. The only thing that was important was to keep the car on the track and stay in reach of the front-runners. I’m happy the team entrusted me with driving the first stint in these horrid conditions. It’s a good thing that we were faced with all possible conditions during the two VLN races, so now there will be hardly any surprises for us at the 24-hour race.”
Martin Tomczyk: “This has once more been a great test for BMW Team Schubert and myself. We were able to run with several different set-ups and strategies in the wet. All worked out fine. We have finished third and second. I wouldn’t mind if this streak continued at the 24-hour race.”
Jens Klingmann: “I was running on slicks for my final stint, although there were still some damp patches on the track. As I didn’t quite know what to expect, I didn’t risk too much on my first two laps. Afterwards I just followed my rhythm, not exactly knowing where we were ranked. Only on the last lap I found out that we were second. A great result.”
Source : BMW Motorsport