2019 International German Pro10 Nationals – Report

The 2019 International German Pro10 Nationals were held at the Speedracer Bernau Club near Berlin in Modified and Sport classes with drivers from The Netherlands, the UK and Germany in attendance. The warm weather made for good traction conditions and the weekend kicked off with free practice on Friday followed by triple controlled practice runs and three qualifying rounds on Saturday. Sunday saw two more qualifiers and the triple A-mains. In the Modified class reigning German Champion, Tim Altmann set the pace in the timed practice followed by his brother Kai with Timo Schad and Tobias Weist completing the top 4.

In the opening two qualifiers Tim and Kai took the top 2 spots followed by Dirk Elsebusch and Reinder Wilms. Tobias, with DNFs in Q1 and Q3 scored a round TQ in the third qualifier from Timo and Tim. The fourth and fifth qualifier also went to Tobias who won the tie-breaker with Tim. Timo took P3 on the grid, again in a tie-breaker, leaving behind Kai in 4th.

A1 then saw a freight train of the top 4 drivers with a mistake of Tobias opened the door for Tim about four minutes into the race. Finally it was Tim with the win about a second in front of Tobias as Timo came in 3rd. A2 saw again Tobias leading the way, taking profit of a 2-horse battle between Tim and Timo. Ultimately it was Tobias with the win in the second A-main from Timo, who found a way past Tim, the latter ending the leg three tenths of a second behind Timo. This meant the overall title would be decided in the third and final A-main that was again lead by Tobias who was able to open an early gap and bringing home the win and overall title some eight seconds in front of Tim, Kai and Timo. When the dust had settled it was Tim with the vice-championship from Timo in 3rd. With the result the previous three German Nationals winner joined themselves on the podium.

Reinder Wilms in 5th would bring home the title in the 40+ class from Dirk Elsebusch while Jamie Peter with a 9th place finish took the best Junior trophy.

Over in the Sport class Joachim Behnken set the pace in the practice sessions, however it was 2nd place seeder Jan Dietmar with the fastest times in the opening two qualifiers. Mathijs Hermens came in 2nd in Q1, followed by local hero Christian Wünsch. Q2 saw Sascha Lennartz and Joachim Behnken in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Q3, Q4 and Q5 then were dominantly won by Joachim, however his times were slower than Jan’s meaning the latter would snatch the overall TQ in the tie-breaker. Sascha came in P3 while Mathijs and Christian completed the qualifying top 5. Reigning Champion, Erwin Peters had to cope with the challenging track and only started from P9 into the triple A-mains.

A1 saw a race between Jan and Joachim with the two showing nice slipstream battles. After a flawless run it was Jan with the win some six tenths of a seconds in front of Joachim – both ending the leg with the only 25-laps runs as Sascha came in 3rd for now. A2 saw Jan scoring a DNF after having a technical some two minutes in to the race, allowing Joachim to take the win from P6 qualifier Rainer Schad. At the tone of A3 Jan jumped the start which awarded him a 5-seconds time penalty that he tried to make up with a faster pace, however driving on the edge ended in hitting a curb and scoring another DNF. Up front Joachim clocked the fastest time of the day for the overall German Pro10 Sport class title. Rainer again showed a strong pace to take the vice-championship from Sascha Lennartz in 3rd overall. The three would also make up the 40+ podium. Last year’s Youth Champion, Florian Kölsch only competed in the B-final, however he was still able to walk away with the 2019 Youth title from Philipp Lischke in 2nd.

Thanks to Tobias Weist for the report. Images: Ronny Amft