RC-Lemans Series finale – Report
The final round of the RC-Lemans Series was held at the EVMC Velp track in The Netherlands. The season finale also was the warm-up for the forthcoming 29th German National Championships what will be held at the same track. Like last year the title decision would be made only at the final round with Kai and Tim Altmann battling it out for the overall in the fast LMP1 class. Over in LMP2 Stock Rainer Schad, with three wins, was in the best position for the overall. However local hero Mathijs Hermens and 2015 Champion Sascha Lennartz were still in the mix, making things entertaining.
The weather was a mixed affair, mostly wet on Saturday and dry on Sunday. The rain-soaked practice on Saturday only saw a handful of drivers taking on the wet track, meaning the opening qualifier on Sunday was the first run for most. Sascha Lennartz in LMP2 set a first benchmark in Q1, being the only driver to score 28 laps. Q2 then was a whooping ten seconds faster, and again Sascha was on top of the timing sheets. Mathijs Hermens and Kai Asmer would come in 2nd and 3rd respectively in Q1 and Q2 while Rainer scored two 4th place finishes. The final qualifier was then won by Mathijs, his time however was slower than Sascha’s who took the overall TQ and conserved his title hopes. Mathijs came in 2nd, some three seconds behind and in front of Rainer Schad.
In LMP1 it was reigning champion, Timo Schad who set the pace. Due to work load Timo only managed to attend three races, however he was quick from the get go at the season finale. Kai Altmann came in 2nd, some 0.3s in front of Tobias Weist. Tim Altmann scored an unfortunate DNF. In Q2 it was again Timo on the top spot, some 0.8s in front of Tobias. Kai scored a DNF, Tim a DNS. Q3 again had Timo taking the TQ and with it the overall. Reinder Wilms found some pace and came in 2nd, some two seconds behind Timo and two seconds in front of Kai. Tobias Weist and Christian Fischer completed the top 5. Tim again had a DNF and thus missed the necessary A-main spot to fight for the title. Kai now needed at least a 2nd place finish to take the overall title, otherwise Tim would be crowned 2018 RC-Lemans champ.
The opening LMP1 A-main had Timo and Kai checking out from the tone. Tobias, following a mishap of Reinder, was able to get into 3rd and was hot on the heels of the leading duo. Later he was promoted into the lead following a tackle between Timo and Kai. The two put a lot of pressure on Weist, however he brought home the win from Kai and Timo. A2 was a less entertaining affair. Timo took home a tone-to-tone win as Reinder, Kai and Tobias fought hard for the remaining top spots. Ultimately Reinder scored a DNF due to a technical while Tobias came in 2nd and Kai finished 3rd. This meant, like in the years before, the title decision would be made in the final A-main. Kai had a bad start into A3 and dropped down the field while up front the race for the win was on between Timo, Reinder and Tobias. In the end Timo was able to open a gap and bring home the win while Reinder and Tobias fought bumper to bumper. In the end Tobias found a small gap to slip past following some entertaining slipstream racing. With the win in A3 Timo secured himself the day’s win from Tobias and Kai. This meant Tim would score his second RC-Lemans title from Kai and Reinder.
LMP1 overall top 5 results:
1. Tim Altmann – 391 points
2. Kai Altmann – 390 points
3. Reinder Wilms – 383 points
4. Tobias Weist – 381 points
5. Joachim Behnken – 372 points
Over in LMP2 it was Sascha with a flawless opening A-main win from Dirk Elsenbusch who took profit of a crash at the start. A-main 2 saw again Sascha taking the win, securing him his second overall this season. Dirk came in 2nd again from Rainer Schad in 3rd, with this position being enough for him to secure his first overall title, making it the fourth different driver to score the title since the class’s introduction four years ago. The final leg was won by Rainer with a narrow win in front of 2017 champ, Andreas Dick. The day ended with Sascha Lennartz on the top spot from Rainer and Dirk while overall in the championship it was Sascha Lennartz on the runner-up spot.
LMP2 overall top 5 results:
1. Rainer Schad – 397 points
2. Sascha Lennartz – 390 points
3. Mathijs Hermens – 386 points
4. Michel van der Helden – 378 points
5. Kai Asmer – 376 points
Source: RC-Lemans [rc-lemans.de]
