With a perfect start-finish victory at the EuroSpeedway Maciek Steinhof (Poland) extended his lead of the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup standings.
As in the season opener, the 24-year-old Pole prevailed against the German Kris Heidorn, who as the best junior finished as the runner-up in front of Dennis Rieger from Kempten (Germany). The second race of the season of the world’s most eco-conscious one-make cup which, thanks to bio natural gas, emits 80 per cent less CO2 compared with conventional fuels was marked by countless captivating duels and overtaking manoeuvres. The five motorsport legends had a major part in them as well: the former DTM Champion Kurt Thiim (Denmark) snatched eighth place from his years-long touring car colleague Klaus Niedzwiedz (Germany) as late as in the last turn. The former Formula 1 driver Jan Lammers (the Netherlands) finished in eleventh place, Slim Borgudd (Sweden) took 15th and DTM veteran Harald Grohs was classified on position 24.
Maciek Steinhof again delivered a flawless performance and demonstrated his strong nerves: at the start the man from Warsaw successfully defended his leading position but then had Kris Heidorn and Dennis Rieger on his heels. An accident at the end of the third lap and a safety car period interrupted the duels temporarily: Stefano Proetto had tried to overtake Ola Nilsson with the extra power of the push-to-pass system, but the Swede pulled to the side. Proetto hit the pit wall on the left, slid across the track and was stopped by the barrier on the right. The driver from Ingolstadt was able to leave his heavily damaged car uninjured.
When the race was restarted after three laps behind the safety car Heidorn launched an attack to grab the lead but Steinhof countered as tough as nails. Behind the leading duo there were some fierce duels as well that saw Harald Grohs, who had been delivering a strong performance up to that point, lose the battle. Rieger, too, lost some places but made clever use of his extra horsepower and re-captured his first ever podium place by the time he saw the chequered flag.
Kris Nissen, Volkswagen Motorsport Director:
“The Scirocco R-Cup again delivered captivating sport. There were numerous duels and most of them were fought fairly. Our push-to-pass system paid off again: it provides additional overtaking manoeuvres and the displays in the windows even indicate when they’re about to happen. The five legends delivered a great show; they were a real enrichment for our cup.”
Maciek Steinhof (PL), qualifying: 1st place, race: 1st place
“It’s super to stand all the way on the top of the podium. The weekend was perfect — you can’t do any better than clinching pole and victory. But it was a tough job, Kris Heidorn and the others behind me had an incredible pace. From the first to the last lap I had my hands full to keep them at bay – especially after the restart. The push-to-pass system forces you to drive strategically, which makes the races even more difficult.”
Kris Heidorn (D), qualifying: 2nd place, race: 2nd place, Junior Cup: 1st place
“After the start I waited at first to extend my lead over my immediate rivals a little. But despite my attacks against Maciek I wasn’t able to overtake, our pace was nearly identical. I didn’t want to force the issue under any circumstances because it’s more important to score as many points as possible. I’m highly pleased with my result.”
Kurt Thiim (DK), qualifying: 12th place, race: 8th place, Legend Cup: 1st place
“My race in the Scirocco was a great experience. The old boys are still pretty fast across the distance. I was fighting for every position up to the last metre. That I still managed to overtake Klaus Niedzwiedz in the last turn was fantastic. This is how motorsport should be. I’ll be pleased to return at any time.”
Klaus Niedzwiedz (D), qualifying: 17th place, race: 9th place, Legend Cup: 2nd place
“That was a great race with lots of extremely fierce fights. It does bother me a little that I was overtaken by Kurt Thiim towards the end: I thought I still had another lap to counter – but the chequered flag came right afterwards.”
Jan Lammers (NL), qualifying: 16th place, race: 11th place, Legend Cup: 3rd place
“It was a great race; the young drivers definitely didn’t let us have anything for free. Since the Scirocco was completely new to me I needed a little time to get accustomed to it. Actually, I’d been planning to save my push-to pass attempts for later but the race was already over by then.”
Slim Borgudd (S), qualifying: 18th place, race: 15th place, Legend Cup: 4th place
“I had a bit of misfortune at the start, I didn’t move away really well. After that, I had a really thrilling race and was able to recover many places. I enjoyed my run as a guest in the Scirocco very much.”
Harald Grohs (D), qualifying: 11th place, race: 24th place, Legend Cup: 5th place
“I was running well and already in seventh place when I was turned around in a duel. Unfortunately, I couldn’t filter back into traffic and had to wait until I was able to continue driving, which caused me to drop way behind. Still, it was great fun to be part of the action. I think the young guns were pretty amazed at times about how late the old men can brake.”
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