Here are a few interesting things we noticed during races eleven and twelve of the Prototype Cup Germany at the Sachsenring.
Honouring the best
On Sunday evening, the champions of all the classes were honoured. The competitors in the Prototype Cup Germany met in the DTM VIP Hospitality to pick up their trophies and chat in a relaxed atmosphere before heading into the winter break. Markus Pommer (33/Untereisesheim) and Valentino Catalano (18/Westheim, both Gebhardt Motorsport) received their trophies for the title in the Drivers Championship, followed by Danny Soufi (21/USA) / Torsten Kratz (53/Mönchengladbach, both Konrad Motorsport) and Julien Apothéloz (23/CHE) / Riccardo Leone Cirelli (16/ITA, both BWT Mücke Motorsport). Soufi was honoured in the Junior competition, while the winner’s cup in the Trophy competition went to Antti Rammo (41/EST, MRS GT-Racing). Finally, Karl Jennings from Gebhardt Motorsport stepped up to receive the trophy for the best team.
Variety of manufacturers and teams at top of competitions
No team in the 2024 Prototype Cup Germany managed to win more than one driver title: Gebhardt Motorsport had overall champions Pommer / Catalano among their ranks, while top Junior Soufi was behind the wheel for Konrad Motorsport and the best Trophy driver Rammo was under contract with MSR GT-Racing. When it comes to the chassis, one title went to Duqueine (overall champion) and two (Junior and Trophy) to Ligier. The intervals in the Drivers Championship also revealed what an exciting and close season it was. Champions Pommer and Catalano had nine points more than runners-up Soufi and Kratz. The Mücke pairing of Apothéloz and Cirelli trailed the Konrad duo by just three points, with Keanu Al Azhari (16/UAE, Mühlner Motorsport) a further three points back.
Three hours of preparation
The Prototype Cup Germany was making its first appearance at the Sachsenring, which had never before experienced LMP3 cars. With this in mind, the drivers were given more time to prepare on the Friday: a one-hour test, followed by two one-hour free practices. The dominant man in these sessions was Al Azhari, who was first on all three occasions. And that, despite the fact that he had never driven at the Sachsenring before.
Difficult journey for Mühlner Motorsport
On the track, everything was nearly perfect for Mühlner Motorsport at the Sachsenring. However, the journey to the circuit was a different story. “The pneumatic suspension on our truck broke. I noticed the first signs around 250 kilometres from the destination. As a result, a tyre then blew with about 20 kilometres of the journey remaining,” said team principal Bernhard Mühlner, who was driving the truck. A local tyre dealer was able to help them out with a spare, allowing Mühlner to get their truck to the paddock. “Once there, the trailer manufacturer performed an emergency repair. It turned out that this was absolutely necessary, as it had also caused a fault with a wire to open the rear of the truck, which meant we could not get set up. Instead of eight o’clock in the morning as planned, we were only able to start assembling the paddock at eight in the evening.”
A busy Friday
The Mühlner crew was also faced with unscheduled work on the Friday – although you wouldn’t know it looking at the results. Driver Al Azhari ended the two free practices at the top of the timing sheet, but was reduced to a mere spectator for half of the opening session. “I lost the car, but don’t know exactly how.” The number 21 car hit the crash barriers hard and suffered damage in various areas – these included the bonnet, rear wing, rear wing bracket, diffusor, and other aerodynamic parts worth roughly € 45,000. The mechanics in the Belgium-based team repaired the damage within three and a half hours, allowing Al Azhari to take to the track for the second free practice session. “When you get back in the car after a crash like that, and immediately magic up another fastest time, that is something to be congratulated,” said Bernhard Mühlner, full of praise for his protégé, who had suffered the first big shunt of his fledgling career.
Denied a first podium by bad luck
The pairing of Maxim Dirickx (20/BEL) and Jacob Erlbacher (23/Böblingen, both Gebhardt Motorsport) were really unfortunate on Saturday. For the first time in their LMP3 career together, they had third place in their sights and just needed to guide their Duqueine home. Dirickx’ had ended up in the gravel bed in his pursuit of the Belgian, giving the Gebhardt racer a comfortable cushion. However, with four laps remaining, the aforementioned bad luck struck: Dirickx was suddenly unable to change gear, pulled into the pit lane and retired the car with a damaged clutch. This would not only have been the first appearance together on the podium in the Prototype Cup Germany, but their first in general in the LMP3 series.
Faulty circuit boards frustrate the Frikadelli Racing Team
The Frikadelli Racing Team struggled with technical issues on their Ligier, which resulted in them failing to finish the opening race. “An error on a circuit board resulted in engine failure. We had that three or four times. Then you have to perform a power reset, in order to restart the engine,” said team principal and driver Klaus Abbelen (63/Barweiler). The team got to the bottom of the matter on Saturday morning, and the circuit board was replaced. “We did not have a spare, but Konrad Motorsport helped us out.” Everything was okay again on Sunday, and Abbelen finished fifth overall alongside Felipe Laser (36/Leipzig, Frikadelli Racing Team) to win the Trophy competition in the final race.
Fast Juniors, impressive Trophy drivers
As well as Abbelen, Kratz also celebrated winning a cup as the best Trophy driver at the Sachsenring. He and team-mate Soufi also finished fifth overall in race one. The top Juniors were Catalano, who won the opening race alongside Pommer, and individual starter Al Azhari, who followed in Catalano’s footsteps by taking the chequered flag as the race winner on Sunday.
