Another strong finish in RCN for RPR Racing

Torgeir Hole starts his Ring racing career with a 2nd in class in Einstein.

20 June 2014

For a naval type, TH had been looking a bit stressed as his RCN debut approached in RPR’s 300 bhp Astra Cup 1 car, but meeting up with the team who were beginning to gather for the legendary ADAC 24-hour race on the Wednesday night began to allay those concerns. Carsten took TH slowly through all the key points of the car, and how to approach driving it, which helped; and then Julius took him through the inevitable documentation session, radio check and talking him through the car prep, which was to RPR’s usual stellar standards. By the end of the evening, TH had relaxed, knowing he was in good hands.

As it was TH’s first RCN race, Julius had festooned the dashboard with post it stickers for TH to tear off, so as to remind him where in the unfathomable RCN sequence he was: Brown for warm up lap, Red for set time lap, green for sprint laps and pink for confirmation lap, in total 15 laps. All TH had to do was tear off the stickers as he completed a lap. What could possibly go wrong?

TH drove down through to historic paddock, crossed the public road and joined the line up of Group 1, hoping to be one of the first, since Einstein had the capability to be faster than the most of the cars in RCN. Final radio check and TH is on his own in Einstein.

With the first lap as a warm up lap to ease into Einstein, TH took things steady and got used to the car. Carsten had counselled TH to drive a relatively sedate set lap in case of yellow flags or rain and he sets a 10:30, well within his own and Einstein’s capabilities. The 2 sprint laps felt frustrating, stuck in traffic, slower cars blue flagged everywhere, but still weaving about; TH being suitably cautious, scrupulously sticking to 60 in double yellow, while other cars did not...

Next lap, things almost got a bit too exciting, with a blunt reminder that anything can, and usually does, happen at the Ring. TH is at full tilt down Fuchsröhre, hitting nearly 230 kmh, up the hill, dab on the brakes and a gear before the crest, over the top and …. Well, that’s a car spinning right in front of Einstein. TH dropped the anchors and Einstein slews sideways at the abuse; the pair slip past the stricken car laying rubber up the track, yaw the other direction just in time to get the nose into the right hand entry to Adenau Forst. There’s a quick wake up call if there ever was one…

All too quickly, the 6th lap approached and it was time to confirm the lap time of 10:30. Following team orders, TH just drove quickly until Pflanzgarten from where Julius calmly counted down the time until TH should cross the line. TH crossed the line with a 10:32, well within the 20-second window; close enough. Two more laps and its time for fuel and a brief respite.

With Einstein refuelled, TH heads back out again for the final sprint laps and sees the wisdom of Carsten’s advice on the set lap pretty quickly. Yellows and double yellows litter the circuit, but with his confidence building and with the field inevitably depleted later in the race, TH bangs in a very creditable 8:09 towards the end.

Parked up behind the RPR race truck, TH climbs out tired, stiff and sweaty after an intense 3 hours in Einstein. Best thing? TH is now talking about doing the VLN in Einstein: feels like there is beginning to be some competition for a seat now! He’s 2nd in class, only 50 secs behind the class winner over 9 laps, which is highly creditable for a first RCN.

Well done TH!

Thanks to all track-side photographers for great pictures; watermarks are preserved for identification and rights protection.