First LMP3 victory for James Hunt's son. Cars from three brands on the podium. Trophy success for Matthias Lüthen from Mühlner Motorsport.
Mads Siljehaug (26/NOR) and Freddie Hunt (35/GBR, both Reiter Engineering) claim victory with their Ligier JS P320 in Saturday's Prototype Cup Germany race at the Nürburgring. In an eventful race, Axcil Jefferies (28/ZWE) and Maximilian Hackländer (32/Rüthen, both Konrad Motorsport) finish second in the Ginetta G61-LT-P3. Klaus Abbelen (61/Barweiler) and Felipe Fernández Laser (33/Leipzig, both Frikadelli Racing) occupy third place. The Frikadelli-Ligier starts in a class upon invitation at the Nürburgring, thus Oscar Tunjo (26/COL) and Mateo Villagomez (19/ECU, both Rinaldi Racing) in the Duqueine D08 complete the podium. "It is not only my first win in the Prototype Cup Germany, but also my first victory in an LMP3. So I am more than happy, of course. After crossing the finish line, I really had to hold back my emotions in the cockpit," explained Freddie Hunt, the son of 1976 Formula 1 World Champion James Hunt, after the race.
Donar Munding (20/Stuttgart) started Saturday's race at the Nürburgring in the Duqueine from pole position. However, the Mühlner Motorsport driver had a bad start and was overtaken by several cars on the approach to the first corner. So Ligier driver Berkay Besler (23/TUR, Toksport WRT) moved into the lead followed by Tunjo in the Duqueine. As the race progressed, the duo was able to pull away a little at the front. Meanwhile, an exciting battle for third place evolved between Siljehaug in the Reiter-Ligier and Jefferies in the Konrad-Ginetta. After about ten minutes of racing, the Norwegian prevailed and started to chase the two leaders.
Mid-race then, a shock in the Toksport WRT team: Besler spun into the crash barrier at the entrance to the pits and damaged the rear of his Ligier as a result. This meant that the double winner of the season opener in Spa-Francorchamps had to retire. The rest of the leading group came in for the mandatory driver change just before the pit stop window closed. At that point Hunt, who had taken over from 2019 ADAC GT4 Germany champion Siljehaug, moved into the lead ahead of Tunjo's team mate Villagomez.
Hunt controlled his leading position in the second part of the race and eventually drove to victory with a lead of over five seconds. Villagomez on his part spun around twenty minutes before the end of the race, which allowed Hackländer's third-placed Konrad-Ginetta to close up. The former ADAC GT Masters driver overtook the South American a little later with a skilful manoeuvre in the AMG Arena and secured second place together with Axcil Jefferies.
Felipe Fernández Laser, too, still passed Villagomez in the Ligier, which resulted in third place for him together with Abbelen. Behind Villagomez, who also won the Junior classification, the Duqueine duo of Gary Hauser (30/LUX) and Sebastian von Gartzen (29/Butzbach, both Racing Experience) as well as Matthias Lüthen (41/Hamburg) and Donar Munding (20/Stuttgart, both Mühlner Motorsport) finished fifth and sixth. Lüthen thus also won the Trophy classification. The top eight were completed by the two Ligiers of Thibaut Ehrhart (20/FRA, Pegasus Racing) as well as Giorgio Rosa (36/ITA) and Aleksey Chuklin (36/UKR, both Speed Factory Racing).
Mads Siljehaug- winner for Reiter Engineering: "I am very happy about the victory. Our team has worked very hard for this since the start of the season. In my stint, I was able to quickly move into third place. I saw the two leaders in front of me. They were also going fast. So I controlled my pace and paid attention to the car. I was able to hand over the Ligier to Freddie in good condition."
Axcil Jefferies - second place for Konrad Motorsport: "It was a good race. The car felt great and our team did a good job at the stop. So we are absolutely satisfied. We didn't have the pace of the winners. But the start was great."
Maximilian Hackländer - second place for Konrad Motorsport: "It' s of course great to finish on the podium right away in my first prototype race. Axcil delivered a terrific stint. We stayed out of everything. I'm already looking forward to Sunday because never before have I been on fresh tyres in LMP3."
Mateo Villagomez - Winner in the Junior classification for Rinaldi Racing: "It's my first result on the podium in Europe. I am of course very happy about that, especially because the level of competition in the Prototype Cup Germany is so high. My thanks go to the organisation and the team. I had a lot of fun in my stint."
Matthias Lüthen - Winner in the Trophy classification for Mühlner Motorsport: "It was an interesting race and a great experience. Obviously, the start didn't work out the way we wanted it to. But we found our rhythm in the race and achieved a good result. Of course, I'm happy about the victory in the Trophy classification, but for us, the overall classification is what counts first and foremost."
