Strong debut in the VLN: Arne Hoffmeister and Benjamin Mazatis – the latter, up until now, also having competed in a KTM X-BOW GT4 as part of the „Reiter Young Stars“ junior programme within the GT4 European Series Northern Cup – secured 24th on the grid for their car from the ISERT Motorsport team. The brother pairing of Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck claimed 29th place, and the pairing of Nils Jung/Florian Wolf placed their KTM X-BOW GT4 in 36th on the grid.
Just in time for the 12:00 PM start, thick rain clouds gathered once again, and accordingly, the sixth round of the VLN, the „40th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen,“ was marked by changeable, very difficult conditions. However, the teams registered in the cup were undeterred by this, and as fortunately no car was „taken out“ this time, all participants were able to demonstrate the potential of the newest cup class of the VLN. Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck, initially behind the Hoffmeister/Mazatis duo, worked their way forward continuously, and by the finish line, the brothers were sensationally in 15th overall place, which also secured them first place in the cup standings.
After four hours of racing, the pairing of Arne Hoffmeister and Benjamin Mazatis was only just behind Stuck/Stuck. Hoffmeister wanted to give it his all in the final laps after Mazatis had delivered a fast and flawless middle stint in his first-ever Nürburgring Nordschleife race in the KTM X-BOW GT4, and launched an attack with lap times around 8:31 minutes. However, a cent-defect prevented them from finally crossing the finish line. Benjamin Mazatis was nevertheless enthusiastic: „I never thought that Arne and I could fight for victory in the cup classification and a top-20 overall finish. It was great fun and I can well imagine being part of the cup next year!“.
Manfred Wolf, KTM Sportcar GmbH