Last weekend, more than 170 race cars took part in the VLN Testdrive at the Nürburgring in order to prepare for the first race on 29th March 2014. Rent4Ring Racing´s winning car from the 2013 season, the Mazda MX-5, took also part and completed a promising test run.
Rent4Ring Racing is giving it all in this new season. Following the teams championship win in the V3 Class last year, Fredy Lienhard and Ralph Beck are starting with three cars in total into this weekend´s inaugural VLN Race. The Mazda MX-5, driven by Anthony Toll and Dale Lomas this year, completed a successful test run with almost 20 laps.
´We are very pleased with the performance of the car´, says Dale. ´Thanks to the Eifel weather, we were able to run the car in both dry and wet conditions and the MX-5 handled well all the time. So whatever weather the Eifel will throw at us this weekend, we are happy with everything. Since I drove the BMW 125i last year, it was a learning curve for me now with the Mazda. It is more critical to have the best corner speed to ensure you carry it through. If you make one mistake you will feel it for the next 20 seconds. ´
The BMW 428i, the race car for Fredy and Ralph, will not be finished in time for the start of the season due to some technical changes. ´We took the decision to compete with the BMW 428i in the SP3T class, originally we had in mind to start in a different class, and therefore we will not have the race car ready´, says Fredy. ´It is very unfortunate for everyone, but we want to have a perfectly prepared car and that we will have for the third race. But to make sure we will not lose touch with the other competitors, we will start in Peter Bonk´s BMW 325i in the V4 class in the first race.
The BMW 125i will be driven by three drivers in the VT2 class. The young Japanese Chiyo Katsumasa, who finished third overall in last year´s Japanese Formula 3 Championship, alongside Newcomer Florian Strauss and the Frenchman Frédéric Lédoux.
The VLN Championship will start into its 38th season on 29th March 2914. The first of ten races will be a four-hour distance race.
