International German Pro10 Championship – Report

The 28th Annual International German Pro10 Championship was held at the AMC Hildesheim track this past weekend. The open championship saw entries from The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Belgium and Germany with the race being held in Pro10 Modified and Stock classes as well as an 1/8th Electric support class. The event started off wet but Friday’s and Saturday’s practice sessions here held on a dry track until the heaven opened again on Saturday evening – in time for the opening two qualifiers. In the Modified class 2014 champion, Tobias Weist won Q1 some eight tenth of a second in front of 2016 vice-champion, Timo Schad who in turn won Q2 on his home track from reining German champion, Tim Altmann and Roman Krejci from the Czech Republic.

Sunday mains day and the track had dried up again. Local hero Timo shifted into second gear in Q3 and Q4, taking wins and scoring a new lap record to leave Tobias and Kai behind in 2nd and 3rd in Q3 while Q4 saw Tobias and Sven Stoffels rounding out the top 3. Ultimately and after a very close fight in the final qualifier, that was won by Tim some 25 thousands of a second from Tobias, it was Timo with the overall TQ while Tim would line up in 2nd from Tobias 3rd.

Pro10 Modified qualifying top 10:
1. Timo Schad – VIP Performance
2. Tim Altmann – Team KaTi
3. Tobias Weist – VIP Performance
4. Kai Altmann – Team KaTi
5. Reinder Wilms – RC Devil
6. Sven Stoffels – Team KaTi
7. Robert Klier – Team KaTi
8. Philipp Paul – Team KaTi
9. Roman Krejci – Corally
10.Peter Plümacher – Selfmade

In the Stock class it was Andy Dick with a clean sweep after Q3. Only in Q4 and Q5 local heros Rainer Schad and Timo Schad would be able to break Andy’s dominance and they would line up in 2nd and 3rd on the grid.

Pro10 Stock qualifying top 10:
1. Andreas Dick – C.Andys
2. Timo Schad – VIP Performance
3. Rainer Schad – VIP Performance
4. Mathijs Hermens – Team KaTi
5. Alexander Wild – VIP Performance
6. Marlon Beuershausen – VIP Performance
7. Rafael Klingemann – RC Devil
8. Matthias Schmerer – VIP Performance

The opening Modified A-main was pretty much smooth sailing for the TQ holder while Tim came in 2nd. Kai would score a 3rd place following a battle with Tobias who unfortunately later scored a DNF due to issues with his car. A2 then was more or less a blueprint of A1 with Timo being even more dominant as he took the win with a 3/4 lap margin from Tobias, who found a way past Tim while the latter also had to make way for his brother Kai. With wins in A1 and A2 Timo would take the overall title early and he opted to sit out A3 to not disturb the fight for the overall runner-up spot between Tim, Tobias and Kai. After a good start Tim lost some momentum on the straight which allowed Tobias to take the lead that he would hold onto until the checkered flag to take the 2017 vice-championship. With the confusion caused by Tim the field was very close together and he also had to visit the pits for some time only to come back and to score a new lap record in the progress. However it was Robert Klier who made maximum use of the confusion caused to take the runner-up spot from Philipp Raul. Overall it was Tim Altmann in the tie-break with Robert and Kai who snatched the final podium spot in 3rd. Robert in 4th took the 40+ title.

Pro10 Modified final results:
1. Timo Schad – 2 Points
2. Tobias Weist – 3 Points
3. Tim Altmann – 6 Points
4. Robert Klier – 6 Points
5. Kai Altmann – 6 Points
6. Philipp Paul – 8 Points
7. Roman Krejci – 11 Points
8. Reinder Wilms – 11 Points
9. Sven Stoffels – 14 Points
10.Peter Plümacher – 15 Points

The opening Pro10 Stock A-main saw a nice fight between Andi and Timo with the latter being in the slipstream of Andi while Rainer waited for a mistake of the two. Unfortunately and after an attack by Timo it was the latter who lost some places which allowed Andi to take the win with a nearly dead battery some three tenth of a second from Rainer 2nd while Mathijs came in 3rd some seven seconds down. A2 then again was a pretty intense affair with Andi, Timo and Rainer battling it out for the win. Later things would become a bit messy which meant Andi dropped back to 3rd, Rainer was 6th and Timo followed dead last in 8th. Up front Marlon took over the lead from Mathijs Hermens and he would hold onto this position even as he needed a marshal in the final lap. Elsewhere Andi had recovered to 2nd from Rainer 3rd. Going into the final main the fight for the title was still wide open and Marlon, who had a shot at the title was the first to give up his hopes due to a mechanical issue. Up front and for the full seven minutes Andi, Timo and Rainer built a freightrain until the very last lap when Timo opened the door for Rainer as he didn’t had a shot at the title any more. Rainer gave everything he had but Andi would bring home the win by six tenth of a second with Rainer Schad coming in 2nd, in the race and overall, while Marlon rounded out the top 3 overall.

Pro10 Stock final results:
1. Andreas Dick – 2 Points
2. Rainer Schad – 4 Points
3. Marlon Beuershausen – 5 Points
4. Timo Schad – 7 Points
5. Mathijs Hermens – 7 Points
6. Alexander Wild – 10 Points
7. Matthias Schmerer – 12 Points
8. Rafael Klingemann – 14 Points

With the 2nd place Rainer also secured himself the 40+ title while 10-years old Florian Kölsch snatched the Junior title.

In the supporting 1/8th Electric class, that was run with Modified and Stock categories in one leg, saw Thomas Plöger, running a 6S car, taking wins in the opening two legs from Timo Schröder, running a 4S car from Thomas Schröder, piloting a Buri Racer, in 3rd.

Thanks to Tobias Weist for the report.