- First LMP3 victory for James Hunt's son
- Cars from three brands on the podium
- Trophy success for Matthias Lüthen from Mühlner Motorsport
Images: ADAC, Creventic
Nürburgring. Mads Siljehaug (26/NOR) and Freddie Hunt (35/GBR, both Reiter Engineering) triumph in the 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) finish third. The Frikadelli-Ligier starts in an invitational class at the Nürburgring, so 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 victory in the Prototype Cup Germany, but also my first victory in an LMP3. So of course I am overjoyed. After crossing the finish line, I had to hold back my emotions mightily in the cockpit," explained Freddie Hunt, the son of 1976 Formula 1 World Champion James Hunt, after the race.
Saturday's race at the Nürburgring was started from pole position by Donar Munding (20/Stuttgart) in the Duqueine. However, the Mühlner Motorsport driver got off to a bad start and was overtaken by several cars right on the way to the first corner. So Ligier driver Berkay Besler (23/TUR, Toksport WRT) took the lead followed by Tunjo in the Duqueine. The duo was able to pull away a little at the front as the race progressed. Meanwhile, a fight worth seeing developed between Siljehaug in the Reiter-Ligier and Jefferies in the Konrad-Ginetta for third place. After about ten minutes of racing, the Norwegian prevailed and started to chase the two leaders.
Midway through the race, the Toksport WRT camp was in for a shock: Besler spun into the crash barrier at the entrance to the pits and damaged the rear of his Ligier. 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 obligatory driver change just before the pit stop window closed. This saw Hunt, who had taken over from 2019 ADAC GT4 Germany champion Siljehaug, take the lead ahead of Tunjo's teammate Villagomez.
Hunt controlled the lead in the second section of the race, eventually cruising to victory with a lead of over five seconds. Villagomez spun around twenty minutes before the end of the race, which allowed Hackländer's third-placed Konrad-Ginetta to catch up. The former ADAC GT Masters driver overtook the South American a little later with a skilful manoeuvre in the AMG Arena and secured silver together with Axcil Jefferies.
Felipe Fernández Laser also passed Villagomez in the Ligier, which earned him third place 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 was 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 take over 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 cars. 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: "Of course it's great to finish on the podium in my first prototype race. Axcil put in a terrific stint. We stayed out of everything. I'm already looking forward to Sunday because I've never been on fresh tyres in LMP3 before."
Mateo Villagomez - winner of the Junior classification for Rinaldi Racing: "It's the first podium result for me in Europe. Of course I am 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 Trophy classification for Mühlner Motorsport: "It was an interesting race and a great experience. Of course, the start didn't work out the way we wanted it to. In the race we found our rhythm and drove home a good result. Of course I'm happy about the victory in the Trophy classification, but for us the overall ranking is what counts first and foremost."
22 – 24 April Spa-Francorchamps (B), 24h Series
15 – 17 July Nürburgring, ADAC Truck Grand Prix
19 – 21 August DEKRA Lausitzring, Family & Friends Festival
21 – 23 October Hockenheimring, ADAC GT Masters
(subject to changes)