Self-service media VLN season review 2010
13.11.2010
D the VLN endurance championship did not disappoint in the 2010 season either. Compared to the previous season, the Nordschleife enthusiasts even went one step further. The fans got their money's worth with a wide variety of brands from the Lexus LFA to the Audi R8 to the Porsche 911 GT3 or the BMW Z4 GT3. The main characters in the battle for overall victories all came from the GT3 class SP9 and did not give each other anything for free on the track. Exciting duels and thrilling overtaking maneuvers provided entertainment around the Nordschleife at the VLN.
Over 200 vehicles started
At the beginning of the 2010 season, over 200 drivers and teams had signed up for the VLN endurance championship registered. The Manthey team, which is at home at the Nürburgring, put together a real large contingent. The well-known team in the VLN sent eight Porsche jokers into the battle of the Nordschleife. Marc Lieb, Timo Bernhard and Marcel Tiemann underlined at the premiere that the 'fat' Porsche 911 GT3 R painted green and yellow is actually not a joker, but rather one of the favorites. They secured their first victory in the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring 2010. Emmanuel Collard and Mattias Ekström completed the podium in the Audi R8 from Abt and the BMW M3 from Augusto Farfus, Uwe Alzen and Pedro Lamy.
The second meeting of the VLN endurance championship was the 35th DMV 4-hour race. Here again, Porsche and Audi underlined their ambitions for power. Once again it was the Manthey Porsche that was ahead. But he also benefited from the failure of the Mamerow Porsche. The Audi R8 from the Phoenix team landed in second place this time, and was to cross the finish line in this position more often as the season progressed. The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, however, caused a surprise with third place. After all, the 'rolling laboratory' was still in the development phase.
VLN as preparation for the 24h race
The whole VLN community will have sad memories of the dress rehearsal before the 24h race to keep. The 43-year-old Leo Löwenstein succumbed to smoke poisoning after an accident in his Aston Martin. The race was then canceled. The Audi teams Abt and Phoenix had already withdrawn their R8s from the race because they had problems with the tires. Manthey did not even start a run before the 24h race. After thisThe Mamerow-Porsche was rated as the winner and the two BMW M3s as second and third.
After the 24-hour race, the field thinned out a little. 168 cars competed in the 41st Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy. And again it was a Porsche that was to be the first to see the checkered flag. The Mamerow Porsche celebrated its second victory in a row. Chris Mamerow and Marc Basseng fought a tough duel with Frank Stippler and Hans-Joachim Stuck in the Audi R8 right up to the end, but this worked out in favor of the Porsche drivers. And also in third place, a Haribo-Porsche 911 GT3 R with Lance-David Arnold and Christian Menzel, a car from Zuffenhausen should cross the finish line Win back. The Mamerow-Porsche had to be content with third place and the Phoenix Audi R8 once again only stayed in second place. In this case, however, he was still lucky. Because Stuck had an accident on the Nordschleife and had to be taken to the hospital for control. What initially turned out to be a concussion turned out weeks later to be a hematoma that had to be operated on. The race was canceled and the Audi R8 was still classified in second place. In addition, the VLN championship leadership changed. Elmar Deegener, Jürgen Wolfarth and Christoph Breuer took over the championship lead from Wolf Silvester and Mario Merten in the Audi TTS.
In the sixth round it was again a Porsche that won. It came from the Manthey Racing stable again, but this time it wasn't painted green and yellow, but with a large Haribo gold bear. Lance-David Arnold and Christian Menzel conquered the Audi R8 with Stuck and Stippler at the wheel. The 'fat one' from Team Manthey, on the other hand, was eliminated. In the meantime, the lead in the standings went to Black Falcon with the BMW Z4 GT3.
Over 1,000 kilometers in one race
The 6h race finally offered a veritable Porsche fireworks display. The line-up of the Haribo Porsche not only managed to break the 1,000 kilometer record, but Manthey Racing also secured a triple victory led by the Haribo Porsche, the 'fat' in second place and another Porsche 911 GT3 R of the Eifler team in third place. This time the Phoenix Audi was catapulted out of the race prematurely after it collided with a vehicle to be lapped and had to give up because of the warped lane.
The race after the summer break was under a special star. Because for the first time Mercedes fielded the newly created Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 in the VLN endurance championship. Bernd Schneider and Thomas Jäger sat at the wheel. But the maiden voyage did not last long. Schneider and Christian Hohenadel already met at the start in the GT3 Corvette. Frank Stippler could no longer evade in the Audi R8 and crashedin the Mercedes. While Schneider was able to continue his journey after the repair, Stippler ended prematurely. The summer break should therefore not have any impact on Porsche's winning streak. Even after the break, it was again the Haribo-Porsche from Team Manthey who set the tone and secured the triumph with Lucas Luhr and Richard Westbrook at the wheel. The yellow-green Manthey car only managed second place due to a puncture. Third place went to the Corvette with Christian Hohenadel and Lance-David Arnold.
End of the Porsche winning streak in the ninth round
The solo performance in Zuffenhausen was not supposed to take place until the ninth race of the season come to an end. Ironically, the rookie Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 from Team Black Falcon with Thomas Jäger and Christopher Haase at the steering wheel secured the overall victory. While the yellow-green Manthey took second place again, the Phoenix Audi R8 again ended prematurely. First there was contact between the Audi R8 and the Mercedes SLS GT3 AMG from Mamerow, then Marc Basseng had an accident with the R8 in the Kesselchen section. The race was ended prematurely due to sleet showers. Mario Merten and Wolf Silvester secured the title early in this race in a BMW Z4.
The final furioso was the 35th DMV Münsterland Cup. And how could it be otherwise? Porsche struck back in the form of the yellow-green Manthey racer. In the end, with the victory, the team once again emphasized that the Nordschleife crown cannot be taken away so easily. The Manthey troops were also helped by the weather gods. While the Phoenix Team's Audi R8 had just completed its stop, Manthey was able to use the stop to switch to rain tires. And the Mamerow team also won their first laurels with the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 at the end of the season with third place.
