Photo: NLS
Salman Owega, David Schumacher and Hubert Haupt took victory in the ADAC Ruhr Cup, the fourth round of the NLS season, after a chaotic, red-flagged race that saw eight SP9 contenders eliminated at once amidst a downpour on the second lap.
The No. 9 Team Advan X HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo finished three minutes and 29.597 seconds clear of the No. 148 Black Falcon Team 48 Losch Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Steve Jans, Tobias Mueller and Gabriele Piana to win.
A second Cup2 entry in the form of the No. 120 AVIA W&S Motorsport Porsche driven by Daniel Blickle, Tim Scheerbarth and David Jahn completed the overall podium.
The win marked Mercedes-AMG’s first NLS victory in four years, as its last victory came as part of a pair of back-to-back HRT wins with Adam Christodoulou, Maro Engel, Manuel Metzger and Luca Stolz in 2020.
The Stuttgart marque started the race from pole position after the No. 48 Team Landgraf-entered machine topped qualifying with a time of 7:53.230.
However, Jules Gounon was one of eight GT3 contenders eliminated when a downpour of rain on the Nordschleife caused cars to aquaplane into the barriers at Hatzenbach.
Along with Gounon, the pair of Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Rs of Nico Menzel and Alex Lynn were taken out as well as further Porsche entries from Herberth Motorsport and Dinamic GT.
Also involved were the No. 17 PROsport Racing and No. 35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3s and No. 8 JUTA Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II driven by Alexey Veremenko.
The crash caused a track blockage and triggered a red flag, which lasted for nearly two hours after which the race was restarted with the No. 9 Mercedes-AMG in the lead.
Owega, Schumacher and Haupt then bounced back from a drive through penalty for a jump start to win, while the three other remaining SP9 cars fell back to finish behind the bulk of the Cup2 field.
The No. 50 Equipe Vitesse Audi piloted by Michael Heimrich, Lorenzo Rocco and Arno Klasen completed the race in fifth place, while Hans Wehrmnann, Joachim Thyssen and Thomas Kiefer finished eleventh overall in the No. 25 Huber Motorsport Porsche.
The No. 33 Car Collection Motorsport Audi driven by Alex Fontana, Klaus Koch, Florian Spengler and Johannes Stengel crossed the line two place further back in 13th.
Saturday’s six-hour race was overshadowed by Friday’s paddock accident, in which a pressurized cylinder exploded and injured 22 people.
Series organizer VLN communicated om Friday evening that the race would go ahead as planned, although Manthey EMA withdrew its No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R as ‘routine investigations’ prevented the team from competing.
Four individuals were seriously injured in the explosion, although all four were in stable condition on Saturday morning according to Koblenz police.
Although the race went ahead, organizers decided to abandon the traditional post-race ceremonies with the national anthem and champagne.
“Our thoughts are with those affected by the incident on Friday evening,” said VLN boss Mike Jaeger. “We wish everyone a speedy recovery.”
RESULTS: ADAC Ruhr Cup
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