In the event of a tie, the lower number of penalty points in the first confirmation round, in the second confirmation round, etc. will decide.” This is how it is written in the regulations of the RCN GLP regularity tests. At the AC Oberhausen's GLP ‘Rhein-Ruhr’ on September 22, 2024, this not particularly popular passage came into effect seven times. In one case (positions 23, 24 and 25), three teams even had the same number of points at the end. This accumulation of equal points is certainly due to the fact that in four rounds, the chance of having the same number of points is greater than in six rounds. A comment by chief judge Jürgen Seidel at the drivers' briefing gave the participants hope for the future: “Today we are again driving ten laps, but I am optimistic that next year it will be different.”
Otherwise, it was a normal regularity test. At the start, the weather was ideal for the Nordschleife. An almost cloudless sky and a correspondingly dry track thrilled the 93 driver teams who had traveled to the race. This is what makes popular sports at the Nürburgring Nordschleife fun! At the finish line, there was a surprise in 12th and 11th place. Both positions were occupied by a black and yellow BMW 325i. Both teams had
4.9 points each. The participants of both vehicles came from Titz and each of the two BMWs had a driver named “Esser”. Despite a “zero round”, however, Joachim Esser and Hans-Josef Pistel had to surrender to the second AT Esser BMW with Manuel Esser and Nils Coenen in P11 due to a higher number of penalty points in the first scoring round (3.3/0.8/0.0/0.8) (1.0/1.8/0.2/1.9).
Sebastian Gödderz and Jessica Suitter came in tenth. The two Winkelhaiders, who were still racing as rookies last season, finished in their Renault Twingo with a total of 4.2 penalty points penalty points (0.4/0.2/1.7/1.9).
Points equality also on P8 and P9. Here Steven and Jennifer Ostrowski (Essen, Mercedes AMG) finished with 3.2 points (2.2/0.3/0.6/0.1) in ninth place behind the rookies Stefan and Simon Zimmer from Blieskastel in a BMW 318 ti with 3.2 points (0.4/1.1/1.0/0.7) in P8. Due to a tie in points, the results of the first evaluation round had to be used again for the next two places as a criterion.
Lukas Schwenk (Volxheim) and Noah Servos (Kerpen) were therefore Mitsubishi Colt and 3.1 points (1.3/0.8/0.7/0.3) were listed in 7th place. With the same number of points (1.2/0.6/0.3/1.0), Falk and Monika Mellentin (Mönchengladbach), who were competing for DAMC 05 in the ADAC in a BMW 318.
Andreas Lux and Emilian Slaby(both from Langenberg) came in fifth in the day's standings as the best rookie team. With their Mini Cooper, they collected 2.8 penalty points (0.9/0.2/0.5/1.2). Michael Dedekind and Sandra Meier (both from Landshut), who
have already won a leg this year with their beautiful BMW E46 M3, did extremely well again. A total of 2.5 points (1.2/0.5/0.4/0.4) was enough for 4th place.
It was close at the top this time. The first three finishers were only 0.1 points apart. Ralph Petzhold (Wallerfangen) and Manuel Ahrens (Hasborn-Dautweiler) achieved third place with 1.9 points. A great success for the driver pairing from Saarland.
Winfried and Karin Schlüter are back! After a rather mixed season, the couple from Horstmar showed that they had not forgotten how to drive GLP. With their red Mini JCW, they drove safely to 2nd place with 1.8 points (0.5/0.5/0.2/0.6).
But this time the victory went to the clear favorites, the father-son team Harald and Harald Ezaru from Bad Wildbad. As the overall leaders, they went into the sixth GLP race of the season, which they successfully completed as the winners of the day and
overall. With 1.7 points (0.5/0.2/0.3/0.7) in the 6th, Ezaru/Ezaru secured their third GLP victory this season. Add to that three second places – that should be enough for this year's championship. After 2021, it is already the second title win for father and son Ezaru. Congratulations.
But even though the champion team has already been determined, for one or the
still have a chance in the last race of the season on October 25, 2024.
In some cases, the teams are only a few tenths of a point apart in the standings. With
a good result in the final race, it should be possible to move up a few places.
As already indicated above, Andreas Lux and Emilian Slaby won the rookie classification,
Lux and Emilian Slaby ahead of Stefan and Simon Zimmer, with Marc Buderath
(Linnich) and Nina Nacken (Herzogenrath) in third place. They were driving a Renault
Megan for MSC Muehlheim in the ADAC.
The team “Nullrunde” (Ezaru/Ezaru, Schlüter/Schlüter, Dedekind/Meier and
Mellentin/Mellentin) secured a commanding victory in the team standings with 29.24 points, team ranking ahead of the AT-Esser Motorsport team (Esser/Coenen,
Esser/Pistel, Buderath/Nacken and Pistel/Hirsch with 25.06 points) and
the MSC Wahlscheid im ADAC team (Göbbels/Göbbels, Derscheid/Derscheid
and Vosen/Vosen) with 20.21 points in third place.