Eventful race at the Nürburgring
Benjamin Mazatis made sure that his numerous overtaking manoeuvres at the 2nd race weekend of the all-electric NXT Gen Cups from 16 to 18 August at Nürburgring caused quite a stir and aroused the enthusiasm of the fans. The 26-year-old from Bruckmühl overtook 21 competitors in the 3 races, each with 8 laps, with his 250 hp car. Mini LRT NXT 1. There were some spectacular wheel-to-wheel duels in which he emerged victorious and showed all his class.
Qualifying became a pure slipstream lottery. The top speed difference on the two long straights was 6 km/h. Whoever got the best slipstream was at the front, whoever was unlucky and didn't get a good one was at the back. As a result, there were a number of surprises and the field was completely mixed up. This also affected Mazatis who, despite good speed in the training sessions, could do little without slipstream and had to settle for a midfield starting position.
But the answer was not long in coming. Mazatis drove strong opening laps in the first race and set off in pursuit of the leading group at the halfway point. He was always looking ahead, but his fantastic chase was not rewarded. On the last lap of the race, while attempting another overtaking manoeuvre, Mazatis made a nice move on the inside, but his opponent steered into the corner anyway and crashed into Mazatis' car.
„It was extremely frustrating as it had been the perfect race up to that point. The overtaking manoeuvres were all very well timed so that the other drivers couldn't counterattack and I lost as little time as possible in traffic so as not to let the leading group get too far away. What happened at the end was a great pity. The gap was there and it was actually clear early on what I wanted to do, so I don't understand why he pulled in. But you can't change it and you always have to look ahead.“
Mazatis also showed strong overtaking manoeuvres in the subsequent races and was able to gain numerous positions on the now wet track. However, the front runners were too far ahead and Mazatis was unable to close the gap in the race, which was only 8 laps long. As a result, he collected important points for the overall standings, but missed out on the podium he had hoped for.