A wild weekend at Sachsenring
Spirited drivers have been prone to crash on the tricky Sachsenring circuit. The odds increase when more than half the field qualifies within one second.
On Saturday # 1 Callaway Corvette Marvin Kirchofer, Q16th, was pushed off trying to pass the # 25 BWT Audi on the main straight. The fight carried up the hill and down into turn one with the Audi spinning and taking out the championship-contending # 47 Mann Filter Mercedes; and damaging the splitter of the # 1 Callaway Corvette, forcing it out of the race, excluded from the results.
To make things worse, the Stewards penalized Callaway 10 places to start Sunday’s race after a heated disagreement about the blame.
Starting back in 31st position it would take something bizarre to make things better. That’s exactly what happened when the leading four cars crashed creating a big mess that stopped the race to clean it up.
Kirchofer in # 1 had moved up and was positioned 18th for the re-start. Since work was permitted, the team put on fresh tires vs save them for Hockenheim 2 weeks away. That paid off with an 8th place finish. (moved up to 7th when the # 48 (the second Mann Filter Mercedes) was penalized for hitting a Lambo).
Gerd Beisel’s RWT team finished 20th and 24th.
The order was upset by first-time winners at Sachsenring so there is still a shot behind just 2 teams, the # 99 Precote Porsche and the # 47 Mann Filter Mercedes for the Championship.
