A Swedish twosome at the top: Jimmy Johansson (Ålingsas) clinched his second victory of the season at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, thus expanding his lead in the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup.
The 21-year-old relegated his compatriot Patrik Olsson as well as Steffen Faas from Bad Wildbad to second and third place, respectively, in the season’s third race. The fight for fourth place, which lasted an entire lap, was decided in favour of Markus Grünewald from Sonneberg, who finished barely ahead of Niclas Kentenich (Neuss) and the Dane Christoffer Nygaard. With eleventh place overall, Nico Bastian from Hemsbach took the lead in the “rookie” classification of the DTM partner series, ahead of Marleen Seilheimer from Mettenheim and the Swiss Markus Brun.
“The ‘touring car school’ of Volkswagen and the ADAC again presented itself at its best this weekend: despite conditions that were difficult at times the young drivers put up a great fight and there were many fair duels to be seen,” said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen.
“This was really my race today. The start, already, was perfect since I started on the drier side. I immediately overtook Steffen Faas and got behind Olsson,” reported Jimmy Johansson. On the second lap, the runner-up in last year’s championship neatly outbraked his rival, pulled ahead somewhat and kept the lead until crossing the finish line. “After the qualifying I knew exactly what air pressure to choose for the Dunlop rain tyres when the track was drying off,” revealed the winner. After his victory in Saturday’s race, Patrik Olsson climbed on the podium for the second time. “This weekend has shown me that I am capable of winning races and fighting for the championship,” rejoiced the 18-year-old from Gota. Like pole sitter Olsson, Steffen Faas had to start on the wet side of the track. “In the beginning I had my hands full. I was completely surrounded by cars and after the first lap, already, both outside mirrors were folded inwards,” said the 22-year-old Faas, describing his exciting starting phase.
After the top trio had pulled away somewhat, a thrilling fight for fourth place ensued behind them. Grünewald parried several attacks by Kentenich through to the photo finish, while Nygaard, in sixth place, prevailed against Constantin Dressler (Göttingen) and Andreas Pfister (Obersfeld) shortly before the end. Nico Bastian drove a flawless race and was able to join the winners on the podium for the first time as the best “rookie”. “Eleventh place is something like a victory for me, because all that counts for me this year is the ’rookie’ classification. Once I knew I was running at the front, I finished the race in a controlled manner,” said the 16-year-old student.
– Volkswagen Motorsport
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