Ligier duo from Toksport WRT lead the championship at the halfway point. Freddie Hunt, son of F1 world champion James Hunt, on the podium again. Best result of the season for Mühlner Motorsport.
All good things come in threes: Berkay Besler (23/TUR) and Marvin Dienst (25/Lampertheim, both Toksport WRT) won Sunday’s race in the Prototype Cup Germany at the Nürburgring. After the brace of wins for the duo in the Ligier JS P320 at the season-opener at Spa-Francorchamps, this was the third victory in four races for Besler and Dienst. The two youngsters extended their lead at the top of the table and leave the Eifel region safe in the knowledge that they go into the second half of the season as the championship leaders. Second place in the race went to Matthias Lüthen (41/Hamburg) and Donar Munding (20/Stuttgart, both Mühlner Motorsport) in a Duqueine D08. Yesterday’s winners, Mads Siljehaug (26/NOR) and Freddie Hunt (35/GBR, both Reiter Engineering), completed Sunday’s podium in their Ligier. “I could not have gone better today,” said a jubilant Dienst after the race. “We are obviously really happy with three wins from four races. The title is the number one goal.”
Dienst started the race from pole. He took full advantage of the best starting position, immediately taking the lead and then brilliantly pulling clear from the rest of the field as the race progressed. Behind him, all hell was breaking loose. Maximilian Hackländer (32/Rüthen, Konrad Motorsport) in a Ginetta G61-LT-P3 and Ligier driver Felipe Fernández Laser (33/Leipzig, Frikadelli Racing) were embroiled in a captivating battle for second place. After roughly four minutes of racing, Fernández Laser got his nose in front and set off in pursuit of the leader. Freddie Hunt initially rounded off the top four. However, a spin after a collision with another car saw him fall back to fifth, behind Mühlner driver Lüthen, not long after.
Dienst set a rapid pace in the first part of the race, opening a lead of over ten seconds. Different lengths of pit stops, due to the respective driver classifications, saw the positions alter a little after the round of pit stops. As such, Klaus Abbelen (61/Barweiler), who took over from Fernández Laser, briefly led the field. However, it didn’t take Dienst’s team-mate Besler klong to dispose of the Frikadelli Racing driver, as the Turk took the lead with roughly 20 minutes remaining. He never looked back from this point, and went on to take the chequered flag with a lead of roughly 16 seconds. Dienst/Besler also took victory in the Junior competition.
Abbelen was passed by more cars before he eventually crossed the finish line in seventh place. Donar Munding, in the Mühlner Motorsport Duqueine, climbed into second place. He was then able to hold off yesterday’s winner Siljehaug in the Reiter Ligier for the second half of the race, and went on to finish runner-up and claim the best result of the season so far with team-mate Lüthen. This also equated to victory in the Trophy class for Lüthen.
Siljehaug/Hunt were followed home by the Ginetta duo of Axcil Jefferies (28/ZWE) and Maximilian Hackländer in fourth. The two Duqueine cars of Oscar Tunjo (26/COL) and Mateo Villagomez (19/ECU, both Rinaldi Racing), and Gary Hauser (30/LUX) and Sebastian von Gartzen (29/Butzbach, both Racing Experience) were fifth and sixth. Eighth place went to Jacob Erlabacher (21/AUT) and Michael Herich (45/Bruehl, both Gebhardt Motorsport) in another Ginetta. Rounding off the top ten were Jesse Salmenautio (20/FIN) and Sebastian Arenram (39/SWE, both Koiranen Kemppi Motorsport) in a Duqueine, and Giorgio Rosa (36/ITA) and Aleksey Chuklin (36/UKR, both Speed Factory Racing) in a Ligier.
Berkay Besler – winner for Toksport WRT: “I am obviously really happy to have won today. The 25 points are very important for us with regard to the title race. I had a nice battle at the start of my stint. Once I had made the overtake, I was able to control the race through to the finish. I am already looking forward to the next race weekend at the Lausitzring.”
Matthias Lüthen – second place and winner of the Trophy competition for Mühlner Motorsport: “It was an incredibly nice race. Everything went our way. It all worked out well in my stint. I handed the car over to Donar in fourth place and he did his job well. Second place and victory in the Trophy competition feel awesome. It is the most successful race weekend of my career so far.”
Donar Munding – second place for Mühlner Motorsport: “I am very happy to have got the result. The car was oversteering and I had to drive extremely cautiously. At the same time, I came under a lot of pressure from the third-placed car behind me. That was very tiring. I am obviously delighted to be able to celebrate second place with my team-mate.”
Freddie Hunt – third place for Reiter Engineering: “My stint was really good. On the whole, I was more relaxed in the car than yesterday. I had a collision and was sent into a spin. I lost some ground as a result. After yesterday’s win, we have now made it onto the podium for the second time at the Nürburgring. We could not be happier.”
Mads Siljehaug – third place for Reiter Engineering: “My stint was okay. I struggled a little with tyre wear, and lost out a little with the aerodynamics in traffic. All in all, we had a good weekend. I really enjoyed my outing in the Prototype Cup Germany.”
