Assen in the wet…
… and the hoped-for home game of our Dutch team did not take place as expected. Instead, we had plenty of action to watch, or as Rene von Dobschütz said: “… a race that is hard to beat in terms of difficulty.”
This time there was really EVERYTHING. Good weather, bad weather, new riders, accidents, DNF’s and of course the lucky third riders with the famous “luck in misfortune”.
Potential rain showers turned into a huge dark rain cloud that literally flooded qualifying and the start of the race. Nevertheless, the riders all plunged fearlessly into the “Dutch sea” and gave it their all. Riccardo Corazzari, Yannick Pleiss and Andreas Walter took places 1-3 in qualifying. Bas van Grunsven is the best Dutchman in P13.
We paused briefly at the start of the race. The riders stopped for 1 minute for our deceased rider, rival and friend, Andreas Roszack. His close team-mates Daniel Kalippke and Danny Schubert also paid their last respects to him on the track. Danny drove Andreas R.’s car with the #51 for the last time. And Daniel also drove up with a special livery for Andreas. I myself knew Andreas as an opponent who always spread his Porsche arse so wide that I had a hard time getting past him. I touched him a few times and laughed with him afterwards about how stupid we had been. I like to remember it! Rest in peace Andreas!
The start was a thrill for the drivers. It’s raining cats and dogs. There are 35 cars around you, all wanting to be faster than you. Then you see the first bend with the large run-off area 500 metres away and prepare yourself mentally to use it in an emergency. The first third of the drivers made it through the first bends without any major injuries. Behind them, however, there were a number of battle-hardened and intrepid riders who would not let a 5-Wide get away from them.
5-Wide? Can the crew chief even say that? That’s probably what Rene von Dobschütz thought too, who ended up acting as a ping-pong ball between the other four. Unfortunately, Marcel Pomper was turned round as a result and first had to agree with Markus Smetaczek as to who would now use reverse gear.
After this faux pas, the race continued for everyone, but nothing was spared, not even the riders. While the two leaders, Riccardo Corrazari and Yannick Pleiss, extended their lead more and more, almost all the riders behind them were battling against each other and against the incredibly poor visibility caused by the swirling water.
After the rain subsided and almost all the drivers went to the pits for the second time to have the slicks fitted, the two leaders continued the bitter battle for the hotlap and first place. In the end, Riccardo came out on top and took first place ahead of Yannick and one of the lucky third-place finishers, Elias Hermann. Elias himself had probably hoped for more duels, but accepted the well-intentioned “gestures” of his opponents with thanks.
We had to record a total of 8 DNFs and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Milan Kort, who finally raised the Dutch flags again. After winning an incredible 16 places, he can call sixth place his own!
And of course I can’t resist mentioning our Summerseason Champion. Andreas Hering finished 4th after starting from 7th place, underlining his solid driving performance, or to put it in his words: “I’ve never sweated like I did today in a race, it was like driving a convertible!” .
I’ll end my short report with Roland’s words: “Assen in the wet, you simply can’t miss it!”
You can find all information about the series here!
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