Schaefer wins Rd3 in Central Germany

Last weekend saw the 3rd round of the German Championship central regional qualifier was held at the beautiful Ettlingen track where the German Championship was hosted earlier this year. Under perfect weather conditions 34 drivers attended the race and on Saturday the track was open for free practice and nearly all participants were already at the track. On Sunday morning 4 rounds of qualifying were raced and although Patrick Schaefer made a safety run in the first round he could beat his record of the German Championship by one second and secure pole position. At the start of the final Patrick managed to defend his lead and pulled away while current Champion Stefan Hanauer and Philip Sting could pass Jörg Wäldle in the first lap and a tough battle for the second position started. Patrick constantly increased his lead and at the first pit stop after 5 minutes he was half a lap ahead of the rest of the field. Suddenly his Velox started to break out in right corners and the lap times got slower but he could manage to keep the lead for the remaining 25 minutes and won the race one lap ahead of Hanauer. Philip Sting decided not to change tires but he lost too much time with his small tires at the end and crossed the finishing line in 3rd position. After checking the car Patrick noticed that a pivot ball at the lower rear wishbone was completely off and the left upright was only held by the remaining pivot ball.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]