Lots of excitement, a wet track and in the end a superior winner: Saturday’s race of the Prototype Cup Germany at the DEKRA Lausitzring offered really good motorsport and delighted the numerous spectators at the Family & Friends Festival.
In the end, Berkay Besler (23, TUR) and Marvin Dienst (25, DU, both Toksport WRT) won in the Ligier JS P320 ahead of the Ginetta G61-LT-P3 duo Axcil Jefferies (28, ZWE) and Maximilian Hackländer (32, Rüthen , both Konrad Motorsport). Gary Hauser (30, DEU) and Sebastian von Gartzen (29, DEU, both Racing Experience) completed the podium in the Duqueine D08. “After the half-time championship, it was our ambition to continue in the same way. We were able to implement that well today. Our fourth success in the fifth race is the next step towards the championship title,” explained Marvin Dienst on the podium with the winner’s trophy in his hands.
Ginetta driver Jefferies started the first wet race in the history of the series from pole position. In a turbulent start phase, however, von Gartzen in Duqueine briefly took over the lead. However, the Racing Experience driver missed the first corner and dropped back to fifth position. Donar Munding (20, GER, Mühlner Motorsport) also got off to a good start, passed pole setter Jefferies and retained the lead. In the Duqueine, he pulled away from the front of the field as the race progressed. However, after around eight minutes of racing, Munding slipped into the gravel trap on the wet track, dropping him to fifth place.
Jefferies took the lead from Duqueine driver Oscar Tunjo (26, GER, Rinaldi Racing). Behind them, Berkay Besler attacked in the Ligier. Having started from eighth position, he fought his way up the field one by one. Just as the first quarter of the race was over, he overtook Gartzen, who was now back in third position, and went in pursuit of the two leaders. “After qualifying was quite difficult for me, things went a lot better in the race. I was able to make up five places, which made me very happy,” summarized Besler. The Turk drove to the pit stop as the first in the leading group and handed the car over to his teammate Marvin Dienst, who had previously completed the ADAC GT Masters race.
However, for Maximilian Hackländer, who took over the leading Ginetta from Jefferies, the second half of the race did not start according to plan. A slip in the gravel and a little later a spin on the wet track saw him drop back to third place behind Mateo Villagomez (20/ECU), Oscar Tunjo’s teammate at Rinaldi Racing, and also behind Dienst.
The second part of the race was then shaped by Marvin Dienst. First he overtook Villagomez and thus took the lead. With continued fast lap times, he then built up a lead of over 33 seconds and was the first to cross the finish line. “Today was the first time I drove an LMP3 in the rain,” said Dienst. “Since I had previously competed in the ADAC GT Masters race in wet track conditions, I knew roughly where I had to be particularly careful. That certainly helped me a little. In contrast to free practice, I wasn’t able to test the limit in the race. But gradually I found my rhythm and was able to drive faster and faster.” In addition to the overall victory, Besler/ Dienst were also happy about the success in the junior classification.
Meanwhile, behind the unleashed driving service, a fight for second position developed between Hackländer and Villagomez, which the German ultimately won. On the last lap, Villagomez also had to let Gary Hauser pass, who took third place together with his teammate Sebastian von Gartzen. Fifth place went to Leonard Weiss (24, DEU) and Torsten Kratz (51, DEU, both WTM Racing) in another Duqueine, which also meant victory for Kratz in the Trophy classification. Sixth place went to the Duqueine drivers Jesse Salmenautio (21, FIN) and Sebastian Arenram (39, GER, both from Koiranen Kemppi Motorsport). Donar Munding, who was initially leading, and Matthias Lüthen (41, Hamburg) took seventh place ahead of the Ginetta duo Jacob Erlbacher (21, AUT) and Michael Lyons (31, GBR, both Gebhardt Motorsport).
Axcil Jefferies – Second place for Konrad Motorsport: “Of course we would have liked to have finished one place further up. But we’re getting better from race weekend to race weekend. My start wasn’t perfect, but I remained confident and wanted to take the race towards me. In fact, we were able to take the lead again in the meantime. Overall Toksport WRT was a bit too fast for us today. Tomorrow we want to attack again. I’m hoping for dry conditions.”
Maximilian Hackländer – second place for Konrad Motorsport: “You always have to be happy with second place. Axcil drove really well, no question about it. But today it wasn’t a brilliant performance on my part. It took me a long time to find my way around. It was my first time driving the car in the rain. In the wet we had we had little grip. When it dried off a bit towards the end I found my rhythm.”