The Tourenwagen Legenden delivered thrilling action as part of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring, with 42 cars on the grid and race wins for Rudolf Schöllhorn and Stefan Mücke.
Anton Werner initially led the opening race on Friday before an accident in the first turn brought out a full-course yellow. Once the race resumed, Rudolf Schöllhorn took control at the front and steadily extended his lead. Behind him, Sascha Zuck fought his way past Werner and Altfrid Heger to move into second, while Wolfgang Destrée held third. In the closing stages, Destrée and Heger became embroiled in an increasingly fierce battle for the final podium place, which ended in contact. Heger spun and dropped out, while Destrée received a 30-second post-race penalty after race control deemed him responsible for the collision. That promoted Oliver Menzel to third, capping an impressive charge from 15th on the grid to the podium. Up front, Schöllhorn secured a commanding win ahead of Zuck.
“The race was a lot of fun,” said the winner, who drove a Mercedes-Benz C-Class DTM. Zuck, who was at the wheel of an Opel Astra V8 Coupé, was also pleased. “This second place is for Andreas Schall, who passed away a little more than three weeks ago. He was the founder of Schall Racing, the team I am competing for here,” he said.
Race two followed later on Saturday and quickly became a dominant display by Stefan Mücke. The Berlin native pulled away from the field right from the start in his Mercedes-Benz C-Class DTM and celebrated a victory that was never in doubt. “It is always great fun to drive here in front of this crowd,” said the long-time DTM driver. “The first two laps in particular, when you still have no traffic, are fantastic; they feel like qualifying used to. It is still fascinating what these cars were capable of back then and what they are still capable of today.”
Rudolf Schöllhorn crossed the line in second to secure his second podium finish of the weekend. “I can say the same as yesterday, it was really great fun. My race was trouble-free, only Stefan was simply too fast,” he said. Ralf Schall completed the podium in his Opel Astra V8 Coupé after Altfrid Heger retired just a few minutes from the finish. The driver from Essen was forced to park his Audi 200 quattro M87 with engine damage. Schall dedicated the result to his father Andreas, who passed away a little more than three weeks ago: “We drove this car together for three years and also reached the podium many times with other race cars. That is why I am pleased to dedicate this podium to him now, even if my mood is of course somewhat dampened.”