An unexpected start grid of 20 cars on the Nürburgring marked a great season start for the rhino's GT Series.
Wolfgang Kaufmann will appear in the history books as the first overall race winner of the newly founded racing series with the big power cars. In the first race he made a clean start-to-finsih victory in the Wieth Racing Team Ferrari 550 Maranello, where his competitors slipped up.
The V8SuperSTAR of Pierre von Mentlen and Rob Knooks Stealth had a small shunt directly after the start going into the first corner. Von Mentlen had to go back to the pits with a bent steering rod. Knook could continue at a podium place position for a while, but had to give up also. The Dutchman made a few spins and had to retire halfway the race. Also Chaouki Chikhani was quite unlucky. Starting from the back he made it to the fourth position when his Porsche engine gave up in a big way with huge flames and big clouds of smoke.
Thomas Probst, sharing his Porsche 993 GT2 with Norbert Pauels, had a clean race and came home second before André Wilke, also on Porsche.
In Class EGT2 it was Heinz Bert Wolters who got the winners trophy. He fell back during the fights at the start and had a good battle with the EGT3 crowd. Wolters managed to keep his Porsche GT3 RS in front of the Marcos Mantis of Dutchman Peter van der Kolk. Kurt Thiim, the expected podium place winner of the Swissracing Teams, retired his V8STAR car with a technical problem.
In the EGT3 the Porsche pilots dominated the Ferraris of Tony Ring and Holger Harmsen with Martin Dechent, Arkin Aka and Dietmar Haggenmüller as first, second and third on the podium.
Rob Knook had the pole position for the second race on Saturday afternoon. The teams had managed to repair the Stealth and the SuperV8STAR just in time for the race. Wolfgang Kaufmann had spoiled his qualification for the second race and had to start from place nine – after only one timed lap he spun off the track.
In spite of his bad starting position it would be Kaufmanns race again. Already in the opening lap he placed his black Ferrari in front of Jürgen Benders Porsche and the Swiss V8 to chase the blue Stealth. Knook had technical problems again and retired into the pit lane, which left the first place on the track open for Kaufmann. Robert Wallenborn and André Wilke also climbed the winners rostrum after Pierre von Mentlen had to retire with engine problems.
In EGT2 it was guest driver Peter Rubatto who took the wheel of the V8STAR. He failed the start due to a broken drive shaft which allowed Heinz Bert Wolters and Peter van der Kolk to take the trophies after the 40-minute race. Ferrari driver Tony Ring had a long fight with his contenders in EGT3 and finished third after Arkin Aka and Martin Dechent.
Hein Hartman was very happy with the season start saying: "I had not expected that our first race would appeal to so many. The professional presentation, the first-class races, the hospitality and the rhino's GT Party in the evening have convinced many teams to join us. I look forward to see everybody back at our next race in Spa."
rhino's GT Party – a hammering success
The rhino's GT Series made clear on Friday evening that it is not only capable of showing exiting races but also offers off-track entertainment to the guests. The visitors and the organisation celebrated the season opening with life music and rhino's energy drinks, pure, on the rocks or mixed with cold wodka, whilst Coyote Ugly animation girls highlighted this exciting first race weekend.
