Four seconds split the first two cars in the 12H Hockenheim
The 12H Hockenheim, fourth round of the 24H Series, saw the Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI driven by Emil Heyerdahl beating the AC Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS of Mathieu Detry by only 4.3 seconds to win the TCE race.
The two cars had been nose-to-tail on Saturday, throughout the first part of the event, with the #188 Audi that Detry shared with Stéphane Perrin and Stefan Wieninger expected to take lead before the overnight neutralization. However, brake problems meant they slipped behind the #1 Golf in the closing moments, but the pair were still split by only nine seconds after six and a half hours.
During Sunday’s leg, both cars continued their close fight, swapping the lead several times and eventually, following both teams’ final pit stops, the Volkswagen and the Audi were still on the same lap.
Detry was scything into Heyerdahl’s lead at a rate of just under a second per lap when the Audi was forced to make a late splash-and-dash with eight minutes left on the clock. Incredibly, two laps later, the Volkswagen also had to pit for fuel, and both cars were separated by less than 10 seconds when they rejoined.
Ultimately, Heyerdahl was able to secure Autorama Motorsport’s second successive win of the season. The team formed by Heyerdahl, Jasmin Preisig and Constantin Kletzer completed 350 laps of the Hockenheimring en-route to victory.
The GSR Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR driven by the Lithuanian quartet of Ernesta Globytė, Rokas Kvedaras, Rolandas Salys and Rimvydas Savickas suffered right rear wheel hub damage after a collision with a GT car but recovered to finish 6th overall in TCE and third in the TCR class.
Autorama Motorsport’s second entry – the #112 Golf GTI of Rhys Lloyd, Christoph Hurni, Christoph Lenz and Yannick Mettler – had also been in the fight for victory early on, but gearbox issues dropped it out of contention. Following a three-hour pit stop, the Golf was able to finish the race fourth in the class.
The 24H Series will resume for round 5 on 16/18 July, with the 24H Portimão.
12H Hockenheim – Race
1. Autorama Motorsport #1 (Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG), 350 laps
2. AC Motorsport #188 (Audi RS 3 LMS DSG), 4.344
3. GSR Motorsport #105 (Volkswagen Golf GTI DSG), 18 laps
Championship points
1. Autorama Motorsport #1, 75 pts; 2. AC Motorsport #188, 71; 3. Autorama Motorsport #112, 52
Picture: Creventic
