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| The German Nationals event was held in the city of Rüsselsheim near Frankfurt, Germany, and was attended by more than 120 drivers who were qualified from previous qualifying races. The best drivers from Germany drove in two classes ⓠModified and Stock. Drivers such as Marc Rheinard, Ronald Völker, Toni Rheinard, Marc Fischer, and many other top drivers promised a very good race. Team XRAY was well represented by Martin Hudy, Steven Weiß and Dirk Wischnewski. In Stock class, it was Thomas Günsel who was hot favourite for the Stock Champion title. |
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| The race started with open practice on Wednesday and Thursday, and continued with controlled practice on Friday. Qualifiers and finals were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The practice was interrupted several times by small rain showers so it was not so easy for the drivers to find a good setup. But at the end all the XRAY cars worked well. |
| Qualification â” Modified |
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| In the first qualification round it was WC A-finalist Ronald Völker who qualified first ahead of Steffen Leinburger and Team XRAY driver Dirk Wischnewski. Marc Rheinard was in 4th position. Round 2 was won by Patrik Gassauer, very closely followed by Dirk und Marc. In round 3 it was Team XRAY driver Steven WeiĂź who had a very clean run and TQâ™ed this round. |
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The other top drivers don't hit the track because a heavy rain shower came down shortly before their qualification heat. In Round 4 the track was still wet and it was Team XRAY driver Dirk Wischnewski who set the TQ in this round followed by Toni Rheinard. Dirk's car worked perfectly under these difficult conditions. On Sunday morning the last round of qualification was run under dry conditions and was won by Ronald very closely followed by Marc and Dirk.
1 Völker, Ronald
2 Wischnewski, Dirk XRAY T2
3 Rheinard, Marc
4 WeiĂź, Steven XRAY T2
5 Leinburger, Steffen
6 Rheinard, Toni
7 Krämer, Andy
8 Kalinowski, Dennis XRAY T2
9 Gassauer, Patrick
10 Altmann, Kai XRAY T2 |
| Qualification â” Stock |
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After the practice on Friday â” which was already lead by Florian Bernklau with an XRAY T2 â” the qualifying started on Saturday. The first round was won by Florian ahead of Thomas GĂĽnsel. The second round was more difficult for the drivers because the rain began to fall, but despite the track problems Florian finished in first. In the third round of qualifying Florian drove the fastest lap of 15.728sec which is now the record in RĂĽsselsheim in the Stock class. Sunday morning began with the last qualifying round which was won by Thomas GĂĽnsel ahead of Florian and Bernd Haas (also driving an XRAY T2).
1 Bernklau, Florian XRAY T2
2 GĂĽnsel, Thomas XRAY T2
3 Schäfer, Bastian
4 Deggelmann, Peter
5 AĂźmann, Marc
6 Haas, Bernd XRAY T2
7 Näthe, Oliver XRAY T2
8 Hofer, Martin
9 Di Michele, Mario
10 Linge, Mike |
| Finals â” Modified |
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The start of the first finale was very clean, Dirk put a little bit of pressure on Ronald, until his left rear tire became unglued so he finish only in 5th. Steven had same bad luck in the beginning so he ended up in 9th. The first finale was won by Ronald ahead of Marc and Toni.
Shortly before the 2nd final a big thunderstorm came down, so there was a lot of hectic activity in the pits to prepare the cars for racing in the rain. Dirk had a big electronic problem before the start so he couldnâ™t participate in the finale. Marc won the 2nd final easily ahead of his brother Toni. Steven finished 6th in this very wet final. The last final was wet again but not as bad as the 2nd. Dirk was out again after the first corner because of electronics problems. Steven was on the fly in this finale, overtaking former WC Marc Rheinard after a few laps and catching up to (but unable to pass) Ronald, so he ended up in very good 2nd place with his stock T2R rain car.
1 1866 Völker, Ronald
2 2028 Rheinard, Marc
3 2030 Rheinard, Toni
4 9291 WeiĂź, Steven XRAY T2
5 8320 Gassauer, Patrick
6 1643 Krämer, Andy
7 3458 Leinburger, Steffen
8 1493 Altmann, Kai XRAY T2
9 6911 Kalinowski, Dennis XRAY T2
10 4182 Wischnewski, Dirk XRAY T2 |
| Finals â” Stock |
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The first final started under sunny conditions. Shortly after the start there were some incidents between Thomas Günsel and other drivers so he finished in 6th place. Florian won clearly and cleanly ahead of the other drivers. In the second final, Florian also lead the race but two laps before finishing he made a mistake and Oliver Näthe (XRAY) won the race. The third and last final of the German Championship in the Stock class would now decide who would take the title. Unfortunately it rained again slightly and the last final started under damp conditions. Florian finished this final in third place and became German Master in Stock with his XRAY T2.
1 7948 Bernklau, Florian XRAY T2
2 4991 Hofer, Martin
3 736 Schäfer, Bastian
4 9363 AĂźmann, Marc
5 3470 Linge, Mike
6 4661 Haas, Bernd XRAY T2
7 2539 GĂĽnsel, Thomas XRAY T2
8 8173 Deggelmann, Peter
9 8861 Näthe, Oliver XRAY T2
10 4114 Di Michele, Mario |
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