Maiden victory for Kratz/Weiss, title race still open

• Torsten Kratz / Leonard Weiss win at the Hockenheimring
• Technical issues during the pit stop cost Donar Munding / Mathias Lüthen
• Title favourites Marvin Dienst / Berkay Besler crash out

Hockenheim. Saturday’s penultimate race of the Prototype Cup Germany ended with the first victory of the season for Torsten Kratz (51/Mönchengladbach) and Leonard Weiss (24/Monschau, both WTM Racing). The Duqueine duo were 11.504 seconds faster at the 4.574-kilometre Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg than Axcil Jefferies (28/ZWE) and Maximilian Hackländer (32/Rüthen, both Konrad Motorsport) in their Ginetta. Third place went to Ligier driver Rory Penttinen (42/FIN, MRS GT-Racing). “I had a good and fair battle with Axcil and tried not to let the gap to Donar Munding in the lead get too big,” said Kratz, describing his race. “Thanks to the good work done by Torsten, and the misfortune for our rivals from the Mühlner team, I just had to bring home the first place,” said a happy Weiss, summing up his successful afternoon. As championship leaders Marvin Dienst (25/Lampertheim) and Berkay Besler (23/TUR, both Toksport WRT) were forced out of the race following a collision with Sebastian von Gartzen (29/Butzbach, Racing Experience), the race for the inaugural title in the Prototype Cup Germany is still open. Dienst and Besler take a 13.5-point lead over Jefferies into the final race of the year, which gets underway at 17:00 on Sunday.

The Saturday race started in turbulent fashion. While pole-sitter Donar Munding (20/Stuttgart, Mühlner Motorsport) took the lead ahead of Axcil Jefferies, behind them Berkay Besler collided with Sebastian von Gartzen. Elsewhere on the track, Oscar Tunjo (26/COL, Rinaldi Racing) had a coming together with Rory Penttinen. The safety car took to the track, but the race was over for Besler and von Gartzen. Tunjo was handed a drive-through penalty for his part in the second collision. Kratz was able to overtake Jefferies and move into second place.

By the time all the pit stops had been completed, Weiss led the field. He was followed by Hackländer, Lion Düker (20/Rottweil, Reiter Engineering), Jesse Salmenautio (21/FIN, Koiranen Kemppi Motorsport) and Penttinen, while Mathias Lüthen (41/Hamburg, Mühlner Motorsport), whose team-mate Munding had led the race until the round of stops, dropped back to sixth place following technical issues during the pit stop. As the team gave his Duqueine a push after the driver changeover, he also had to complete a drive-through penalty; the Mühlner duo eventually crossed the finish line in seventh place.

Out in front, all Weiss had to do to claim win number one of the season was maintain his lead of more than 15 seconds over Hackländer. The battle for third place was a more exciting affair: Düker was unable to hold off Salmenautio, but neither was the Finn able to retain third place through to the finish. Behind him, his compatriot Penttinen was closing fast, and he passed the Koiranen-Kemppi car on lap 28. He went on to crown the first outing of his MRS GT-Racing team in the Prototype Cup Germany with a podium. Düker and Moritz Löhner (23/Munich, Reiter Engineering) ended their debut in the LMP3 series in fifth place, ahead of Michael Herich (45/Brühl) and Jacob Erlbacher (22/AUT, both Gebhardt Motorsport). Martin Berry (45/AUS, Rinaldi Racing), who partnered Tunjo, was waved home in eighth place, followed by Julien Schell (43/FRA, Pegasus Racing) and Thibault Ehrhart (21/FRA, both Pegasus Racing).

Axcil Jefferies: “My start was not ideal, but my team did a good job. We had a fast car and did not make any mistakes. I am very pleased with second place.”

Maximilian Hackländer: “Our pit stop was good. Stupidly, I span on my outlap, but fortunately nothing happened and I was able to continue without losing any positions. The car was very good and second place is a great result for us.”

Rory Penttinen: “I had a really good start, but was then spun and had to come into the pits with a puncture. After that I was down in last place. I gave it everything I had. When the team told me at the finish that I was third, I could not believe it. After the first lap, I never expected that. I am really happy.”

Broadcast times for the 2022 Prototype Cup Germany in Hockenheim
Sunday, 23rd October
17:00 - Race 2 live: youtube.com/adac, adac.de/motorsport, youtube.com/24hseries