RC Lemans Series Rd5 – Report
The fifth round of this year’s RC Lemans Series was held at the popular AMCA Apeldoorn track in The Netherlands. Hot summer weather greeted the drivers that would battle for the win in the LMP1 Modified and LMP2 Stock classes. With a win Kai Altmann could already wrap up the championship while in the LMP2 class the race for the championship is still wide open. With reigning 1/12th scale European Champion Ollie Payne the series welcomed a real Pro driver with Ollie attending the fast Modified class using a spare car of Tim and Kai Altmann. During Saturday’s practice the track soon got grippier and the lap times started to become quicker and quicker – as did Ollie.
In LMP1 Kai Altmann set the early pace followed by Tobias Weist, some two seconds behind. Ollie came in 3rd, another two seconds down. Q2 then saw Tim Altmann topping the timing table, a narrow 0.2 seconds in front of Ollie and Reinder Wilms. The final qualifier then had Tim setting the FTD with 22 laps and a fastest lap of 13.346s. This gave the top 5 grid of Tim Altmann from Ollie Payne, Kai Altmann, Reinder Wilms and Tobias Weist.
In the LMP2 Stock class Sascha Lennartz and Mathijs Hermens battled for the overall TQ. Sascha came out fastest in Q1 and Q2 with Mathijs topping the class in Q3. Overall and with a quicker Q2 it was Sascha with the pole from Mathijs Hermens and Michel van der Velden.
At the start of the LMP1 A1 Tim had a moment and getting into the grass allowed Ollie to get into the lead followed by Tobias and Kai. Unfortunately Tobias had to end the race early with a technical which allowed Kai and Reinder to battle for 2nd while Tim was able to recover after some very swift laps. After getting past Reinder he was in the hunt for his brother, eventually settling on his rear bumper while up front Ollie took the win in the opening A-main. In the final lap Kai’s car went sideways which allowed Tim to slip into 2nd, some 0.8 seconds in front of Kai and a new fastest lao of 13.224s. A2 than saw Tim make a way better start and he soon was able to open a gap on the field. This time Kai had a bobble which cost him several positions. This promoted Reinder into 2nd as Ollie also had a costly moment. Tim up front drove a lonely race while Reinder, Kai and Tobias battled it out for the runner-up spot until Tobias had another technical. Until the end Kai followed Reinder in his slipstream but Kai was able to bring home P2 by 0.4 seconds. The start of A3 then again saw Tim in trouble and dropping down the field as Ollie, Kai and Reinder made up the top 3. Ollie showed an impressive performance and consistency, bringing home the win in A3 by half a lap and with it the overall victory. Kai and Reinder came in 2nd and 3rd respectively. As Tim wasn’t able to take the overall the title decision between him and his brother will go down at the final round that will be held in Velp, The Netherlands.
The LMP2 class was a exiting as the faster Modified category. Sascha took profit of a slide of Mathijs’ car at the start while Michel got into 2nd. Up front Sascha shifted into cruise mode while Michel and Mathijs were in a Dutch duel for the runner-up spot. About mid-race a bobble of Mathijs gave some room for Michel who would ultimately bring home P2 in A1. A2 then held some drama as a huge crash in the opening lap meant Sascha would have to retire while Erwin Peter, coming from P5, was promoted into the lead. But his fame was short-lived as Paul Seyn and soon after Mathijs took over the lead again. Michel tried to stay in touch with Mathijs but it wasn’t to be. In the end Mathijs would shift the decision for the overall in to A3 as Michel and Erwin came in 2nd and 3rd respectively. A3 then saw the decision between Sascha and Mathijs. The two were accompanied by Michel and all three would pull constant laps until Mathijs tried to attack Sascha but cutting the curbs here and there cost him valuable time. Sascha kept his cool though and brought home a maiden win this season in front of Mathijs, some 0.9 second back. Michel came in 3rd, also rounding out the top 3 overall.
The final of the 2018 RC Lemans Series will be held in five weeks time in Velp, The Netherlands.
Source: RC Lemans [rc-lemans.de]
