Nürburgring. MK-Motorsport partner PIXUM Team Adrenalin Motorsport achieved a fantastic team result at the season highlight of the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring. The team from Heusenstamm won the three production car classes V4, V5, V6 in the 6-hour race and secured the stage victory in the BMW M235i Racing Cup. VLN debutant Fabian Vettel also unwound his first Nordschleife kilometres with the PIXUM Team Adrenalin Motorsport.

"The 6 hour race is by far the toughest run of the year due to the significantly longer distance compared to the eight other VLN races. I am therefore incredibly happy and proud that we were able to achieve such a fantastic result here. These four classes are so strongly occupied that for success really everything must fit together. Today we managed to win all of them for the first time in a VLN race. A remarkable achievement of my team", team boss Matthias Unger was pleased.

Once again Daniel Zils (Bendorf), Christian Konnerth (Winnenden) and Norbert Fischer (Cologne) were in the lead in the V5 production car class. The reigning VLN vice champions thus continued their winning series and celebrated their fifth victory in the fifth race with the PIXUM Porsche Cayman. In the VLN overall standings they are still in the lead and once again slightly increased their lead over their rivals. "Of course, things are looking very good for us at the moment in terms of championship. Nevertheless, everything is very close together at the front, so that it will remain exciting until the end," Zils describes.

In terms of participants, the V4 production wagon class was once again in charge this weekend. Christopher Rink (Frankfurt), Danny Brink (Kühlsheim) and Philipp Leisen (Irrel) won their PIXUM BMW 325i E90 after an exciting race against 24 other competitors. "After the accident at the last VLN race this victory at the 6h race seems like a kind of balm for us. We are very pleased to have returned to the road to success," said Rink. At the finish the drivers trio were almost 26 seconds ahead of the Manheller Racing team, with whom they had already fought a close duel for class victories in the previous races. The sister car, the MOTEC Wheels BMW 325i E90, by Christoph Magg (Stuttgart), Philipp Stahlschmidt (Munich), John Lee Schambony and Oskar Sandberg (Norway) was ranked 17th. For a long time the driver quartet had been in the top 5 until a penny article quit the service and resulted in a longer repair break.

In the V6 class, Christian Büllesbach (Königswinter), Andreas Schettler (Baden-Baden), Carlos Arimon (Spain) and Ioannis Smyrlis (Frankfurt) with the Veedol Porsche Cayman S achieved a commanding start and finish. "I'm super happy with the outcome of the race. After we dropped out at the last run just before the end, today's result means a lot to us", Smyrlis was pleased. In addition to the success in the V6 class, this season for the first time the driver quartet was also able to celebrate the group victory in the VLN production cars.

David Griessner (Austria) and Yannick Fübrich (Nordheim) also reported a remarkable success from the summer break. The driver duo secured their third victory of the season with the PIXUM BMW M235i Racing after a brilliant performance and thus made the fascinating team result perfect. "We are of course very happy about this success after a really tough six-hour race. Many thanks to the entire team and the perfectly prepared vehicle," says Fübrich.

The other BMW M235i Racing cars from PIXUM Team Adrenalin Motorsport also achieved good results in the heavily occupied class. While Christian Müller (Hanover), Stefan Kruse ( Löhne), Andreas Winkler (Munich) and Robert van Husen (Switzerland) saw the chequered flag in fourth place with the MOTEC Wheels vehicle, Lance Boicelli (USA), Daniel Morad (Canada) and Jan Sluis (USA) also made it into the top 10 with seventh place, allowing Stefan Kruse, Andreas Winkler and Robert van Husen to celebrate victory in the Gentleman classification of the BMW M235i Racing Cup. The sister cars of Lutz Marc Rühl (Idstein), Thomas Henriksson (Sweden), Ulrich Korn (Buchholz) and Charles Oakes (Luxembourg) finished in eleventh place in the strongly occupied class.

Meanwhile Fabian Vettel (Heppenheim) made a promising North Loop debut and was able to attract attention above all with strong lap times. The 19-year-old, who normally drives the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, shared the wheel of a BMW M235i Racing with Andre Duve and Georg Bellof (Giessen), brother of Formula 1 and sports car legend Stefan Bellof. Although Vettel's team mate Duve was involved in an accident through no fault of his own after 15 rounds, the man from Heppenheim was able to cover valuable kilometres in the "Green Hell" this weekend.

"It was one of the most incredible experiences I have had in my life so far. The first time ever on the legendary Nordschleife was a very special moment for me. Especially the start was unbelievable when we were bumper to bumper in a bunch at over 200 kph. I learned a lot this weekend and I am really fascinated by this race track, but also by the VLN in general. For me, pure motorsport is full of unique fan proximity," says Vettel, who was very positively surprised by PIXUM Team Adrenalin Motorsport.

"At first I asked how that could even work. Using 12 vehicles at the same time in a race is a real mammoth task and means an incredible amount of work. But I'm really impressed how disciplined and coordinated the whole thing went down. And the great success of the weekend proves that the performance did not suffer. On the contrary: the whole team did a great job and proved an enormous quality. I was also pleased that all new drivers also received individual coaching in free training. I don't take that for granted either."

Text: Media-DaCo (Daniel Cornesse) / Photos: Copyright Racepix & Marc Krankenberg

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