The third round of the VLN Championship, taking place last Saturday, offered great racing and excitement once again.However, race day went not as hoped for for the Rent4Ring Racing Team.
Following a few technical problems on both the Mazda MX-5 and the BMW 125i on Friday, both cars as well as the BMW 325i ran well during qualifying. But an electrical failure meant an early stop for the Mazda in race lap 1, with a race accident on lap 3 meaning the end for theBMW 325i. But once again, the smallest car of the fleet, the BMW 125i, secured another podium finish.
Class V4: BMW 325i – Number 491 - Drivers Fredy Lienhard and Dale Lomas
In Fridays free practise session, the BMW 325i showed its great performance once more. Due to some smaller accidents during qualifying and quite a few yellow phases, it was almost impossible to get a good lap time, however Dale qualified the 325i in fourth place. Fredy took on the start and got a great getaway, racing with three other cars next to one another into the first corner – with the Rent4Ring Racing car getting the best out of it. After racing well in the opening two laps, the BMW 325i was already running in second place, going for the lead. Coming towards the NGK-Chicane (last chicane before entering the Nordschleife), the Rent4Ring Racing car was involved in an unfortunate race accident, meaning the end for the car of Fredy and Dale on lap 3.
Fredy Lienhard, Swiss:´We were running really well early on. There was quite a bit of trafficgoing into the S-Chicane and whilst I let a faster GT car pass, I touchedanother car on the right hand side. The damage was too heavy to continue andI had to park the car there and then. It is a real pity, because would havebeen able to race at the front again. But that´s racing, things like thatcan happen.´
Class V3: Mazda MX-5 - Number 515 – Drivers Ralph Beck and Anthony Toll
The Mazda MX-5 suffered the same problems as the BMW 325i in qualifying and wasn´t able to time a competitive lap due to too many yellow flags. Ralph was able to gain some places at the Start, but whilst driving towards Schwedenkreuz, the entire electric stopped working. That technical failure resulted in some heavy spins of the Mazda, but luckily no other cars were touched and Ralph was able to drive the car back into the pits. The team worked hard to get the car back out, but after an hours work, the loss of the second car was certain.
Ralph Beck, Switzerland:´We fought with some minor problems during the weekend, but the Mazda wasstill running well. There was no chance to get a good timed lap inqualifying, there were yellow flags all the time. It would have been a goodfight coming from sixth place and trying to get up in the top positions. Butwe were still lucky not to have hit any other cars, otherwise the damage tothe Mazda would have been even more substantial.´
Class VT2: BMW 125i - Number 504 - Drivers Frederic Ledoux, Jens Noeske and Raphael Schmid
Raphael Schmid qualified the BMW 125i on third place on the grid for VT2, but due to a fuel leak, Rent4Ring Racing nippy little car had to start from the pit lane. But that should proof to be a race decisive cause; because when Frederic took to the start he was not involved in the any of the racing incidents. Even though there were a few small bumps with other cars, the team rolled through the field and was able to hold on to second place from early on. Following the driver changes, the BMW 125i kept running in second position, and even a Three-Minute-Penalty for starting from the pit lane, could not take the podium finish out of the Team of Rent4Ring Racing.
Jens Noeske, Germany:´I have driven very often on the Nordschleife and have collected more than1,000 laps, but it was the first time for me racing for Rent4Ring Racing.After a few technical issues on Friday, the BMW 125i ran really well and itwas just a top car and fun to drive. I am really happy for the team to havesucceeded in getting second place in the VT2.´
Rent4Ring Racing congratulates all Class winners.great racing and excitement.
