The first victory of the DMV NES 500 powered by KW in Spa-Francorchamps went to the Netherlands. Team Munckhof/Bedorf/Poland won in the KK-BMW M4 GTR ahead of Vodder/Henriksen (Ginetta G55 3.5) and Drasal/Biederbick/Richter/Vincentz (Porsche Cayman GT4 MR).
If after just over four hours of racing the first three are within one lap, this speaks for a balanced race. However, Eric van den Munckhof, Frank Bedorf and Marco Poland could not shake the victory on the last few meters. The trio took the lead in the 24th lap for the first time for three laps, but then had to let the fast Porsche 996 RSR of Patrick Hofheinz and Stefan Roithmayer pass again after the first pit stop.
At first, the RSR determined what happened. However, a long pit stop cost the lead in the 42nd lap. When it went forward again in big steps, the 911 rolled out to position four after 54 laps.
From the 45th lap on, the three Dutchmen finally took the lead, which they did not give up until the black and white checkered scarf fell. “It worked out quite well. We drove very consistently with good times and had no problems. That also brought us victory,” Eric van den Munckhof said on the record.
Behind the victorious BMW, the battle for further places raged. While the RSR was out of the game after his retirement, things were close behind him. The fastest of the pursuing trio were Hakan and Recep Sari (BMW M4 GT4), who had taken over the leading Porsche’s pursuing role in the initial phase. When it stopped for the first time, the two M4 pilots took the lead.
But after their own pit stop the duo could not quite continue their performance at the beginning of the race. In addition to the Munckhof-M4, the Ginetta from LegendMotor Co. and the Cayman from RN.Vision STS also passed by. Between the two sports cars it was now a matter of second place overall. In the end, it was the Danish Ginetta team that won the NES8 “We have two drivers on the car who haven’t had the experience yet. Therefore the performance here at Spa-Francorchamps was really good”, Bernd Hohaus of Team Rn.Vision STS commented on the third place overall.
For the Cayman drivers, third place overall meant second place in the heavily occupied NES8, where Christian Ladurner and Sebastian Sommer (Seat Leon TCR) took third place at their debut in the DMV NES 500 and fifth place overall.
After 17th place in qualifying, the two Seat pilots had steadily worked their way forward and finally prevailed over the Lubner Opel Astra TCR with Hunt/Nale/Feucht/Seyfert. “Things went great on the first mission. The long distance is fun. It was my first endurance race today. The first three quarters of an hour was really a lot of work, just as I know it from the Sprint,” says Ladurner. Team mate Sebastian Sommer added: “I felt very comfortable in the car. I come from historical motorsport and in a modern car everything is much more comfortable, more direct to drive. It’s not that much work, but the borderline is a little thinner. It was really fun and I think we can be very happy with the debut here.”
Between the two NES8 cars the winners of the NES7, Marc Ehret, Simon Klemund, Marcel Lenerz and Franz Josef Georges clinched victory in the BMW M235i RC. However, the class pole had won last year’s champion André Fleischmann with Alexander Woller and Matthias Schrey (BMW M235i RC). The later victorious M235i RC from Mfun-Motorsport was in 15th starting position. After the start Marc Ehret got a round of cream. In the second round, Ehret displaced Noah Nagelsdiek (BMW M235i RC) from first place in the NES 7, but the closest pursuer did not come from the BMW camp.
Nils Mierschke (VW Scirocco) took the lead from the ninth lap, but was out of the race for class victory after a longer pit stop. After the driver change Franz Josef Georges could not keep the pace of his team mate, so that in the course of the race the BMW of Team Nagelsdiek passed by. To win the race, the team shortened the stint of Simon Klemund, who had taken over the volant from Georges. For the remaining time Marcel Lenerz crawled into the cockpit, which immediately made a lot of steam. In round 61 he passed Nagelsdiek-BMW.
When the leading MKR-M235i RC came into the pits for the last stop, Marcel Lenerz was finally on course for victory. With a lap ahead of Nagelsdiek/Nagelsdiek and Fleischmann/Woller/Schrey Lenerz completed the class victory.
“The car went well and we drove well over the four hours and were able to keep a constant pace. I’m glad we were able to drive it home like this because the first three were close together. We are now at the finish line with P1 and very happy about it. Now we hope it will continue like this,” explained Marcel Lenerz. “It was a good race, I did my best and in the end it was enough. We are all super happy”, Simon Klemund was also pleased about the good result.
There were clear winners in the NES6, where Niklas Kry and Thomas Mühlenz won in the VW Scirocco of Konrad Motorsport. In the VW Golf, the two finished second, Günther/Puth/Sabbatini (Opel Astra OPC Cup) and Borcheld/Reichert (BMW M3 3.0 E36), three laps behind them.
In the NES4, Wagner/Littig won the MIN JCW Challenge ahead of Sliphorst/Izelaar/Kraan (BMW 325i E90) and Falk/Falk (BMW 330i E46). Winners of the NES1 were Pawlow/Schule in the BMW 318ti Cup).
Photo DMV NES 500
