Mathilda Racing starts the season with a win
Mathilda Racing confirmed itself as the team to beat on the Nürburgring Nordschleife and won the TCR class in the opening round of the VLN series today.
The race was originally scheduled on a 4-hour distance, but foggy weather delayed all procedures by four hours, which forced the organisers to shorten the race distance to 2 hours and 45 minutes.
For most of the race, the two Hyundai Motorsport cars were in the lead and one hour before the end the Veloster N of Manuel Lauck and Marc Basseng was keeping the first position in the class ahead of their teammates Peter Terting and Harald Proczyk in a i30 N car. The Mathilda Racing CUPRA shared by Matthias Wesel, Frédéric Yerly and Heiko Hammel followed in third position.
Further down the order was the Volkswagen Golf GTI entered by the Max Kruse Racing for Benjamin Leuchter and Andreas Gülden, former leading driver at Mathilda Racing. They had set pole position in Qualifying, but then retired with a technical issue in the final part of the race.
The Mathilda Racing CUPRA took command in the final hour and finished a respectable 32nd overall out of 157 starters; one position and 44 seconds ahead of the Terting-Proczyk Hyundai i30 N. The Hyundai Veloster of Lauck-Basseng completed the podium one lap behind the winners.
Three minutes behind the Veloster, in fourth place, finished the Honda Civic Type R of Tiago Monteiro, Dominik Fugel and Markus Oestreich.
The second round of the VLN will take place on 13th April.
Race
1. Mathilda Racing, CUPRA (Wasel / Yerly / Hammel), 19 laps
2. Hyundai Motorsport N, Hyundai i30 N (Terting / Proczyk), 43.693
3. Hyundai Motorsport N, Hyundai Veloster N (Lauck / Basseng), 1 lap
4. Autohaus Fugel, Honda Civic Type R FK7 (Monteiro / Oestreich / Fugel), 1 lap
