Also the second run of the Austrian Touring Car Masters Series 2022 offered exciting duelles and a lot new names on the drivers List got the attention on the track. Just like the opening event, this race took place in Hungary.
This time the great battling happened on the Pannoniaring instead of the Hungaroring. While the rest of the whole series competed with the ESET V4 Series, the Host Gerhard Trenker organized a small but fine championship with everything included. He also surprised everyone by being back in the cockpit of his own KTM X-Bow.
Sadly a few of our Porsche starters weren’t able to compete due to the Sprint Challenge that happened in Brno, but they will be back with full power on the Red Bull Ring!
SPRINT Race 1
Martin Koch, who was responsible for a lot of tension on the Hungaroring, was quite special on his own, again, and started from P1. With Igor Klaja and Ralf Ott two dangerous KTM GTX Pilots were waiting for their chance in class 4. Also the routinized 922 Cup Porsche driver Denis G. Watt was ready to fight for glory.
Razoon Racing brought us 3 ambitious drivers as well. Besides last time winner Denis Liebl, also Daniel Drexel joined him. Newcomerin and quite talented 15 year old Ekaterina Lüscher from the Swiss was the third driver from Razoon. We are very happy to have such a young driver such as to have a female Starter. At the Premiere Mr. Trenker didn’t want anything to go wrong and decided not to start but as Robert Mitterman the founder of Sportfahrer.at is now a full on TCM member and known by everyone, it was about time that Bob Bau changed his shirt to his well-known yellow-violet racing suite and got back on track.
Martin Koch proved that it is not only swiss watchmakers who deliver precision work and secured a clear start-finish victory and P1. Like we are used to, a good performance from Max Grip who finished right behind Koch and won in class 3 and secured the second place overall. Ralf Ott who competed with the KTM GT4 at the Hungaroring changed to his new KTM GTX which he drove very well and got himself on the podium after achieving P3 overall and P2 in class 4. Unfortunately, Team PPT from Poland had to learn how close victory and defeat are together. At the day before Mateusz Lisowski with his KTM GTX set a new course record with a lap time of 1:48:425. In the second round of the warm-up, close to the Qualifying, Igor Klaja (PL) took off on the slightly sandy track, but fortunately remained unharmed. For the GTX, the race weekend was unfortunately done.
A nerve wrecking duell delivered the two drivers from Styria, Gerald Hofer and Denis G. Watt with their Cup-Porsches. Bumper to Bumper the two dragged it out over multiple rounds, to the excitement of the audience. At the try to overtake Gerald Hofer on the start-finish line, it ended with a collision in turn 1 and resulted in a premature ending for both of them.
Bob Bau was able to hold his own against the up-coming Daniel Drexel, who was always pressuring and took the class win in class 2. On Place 3 Denis Liebl in front of the impressive Ekaterina Lüsche with her 260 PS KTM got a laptime below 2 Minutes, we will surely hear about her in the future! The big winner of the overall classification was the MZR team of Klaus Binder, whose drivers took the places 1 to 3.
SPRINT Race 2
Short after, the same Mistake happened to Daniel Drexel. However, his “excursion” ended in the gravel bed and he was only able to continue the race with the help of the track service and after a pit stop, 3 laps behind he was able to drive again. While Martin Koch approached the leading duo round by round, Max Grip and Ralf Ott delivered a thrilling duel. In the last 5 minutes, Martin Koch gave his all and got himself P2, with an last attack on the leading Ralf Ott, he was able to place himself back on Top one round before the Race ended.
In the last Moments also Max Grip was able to overtake Ott and got to the end of the Race as overall second and Winner of Class 3. So took MZR also in the second race the podium places. In Class 2, two other Pilots delivered a heated duell, Denis Liebl close onto Bob Bau, but Bob Bau stayed calm and ended the Race as class winner and overall fourth. An amazing performance delivered Ekaterina Lüscher which got on the third Place of her Class and became Overall sixth. Daniel Drexel wasn’t able to catch up after his accident and became fourth in Class 2.
ENDURANCE
The big question was: Will Martin Koch succeed and also win the endurance competition? While Gerald Hofer, whose Porsche was ready for action again, fought a tough but fair battle for third place with Daniel Drexel, in which Denis Liebl also intervened. Martin Koch was at the top right from the start, behind him Max Grip, who had to go to the pits due to technical problems. Ralf Ott, who drove with Max Grip in the team classification, managed to finish the Race with the KTM in fifth place overall.
The young Salzburg-born Daniel Drexel didn’t allow himself a single mistake in the endurance race, and was finally able to hold his ground against Gerald Hofer and crossed the finish line as second overall, ahead of Hofer and Liebl. We can certainly look forward to Ekaterina Lüscher, because also the third race of that day she drove error-free and finished the Endurance Race in third place in class two, which was clearly dominated by Team Razoon under the leadership of Dominik Olbert: Drexel ahead of Liebl and Lüscher meant all three Podium places for the Salzburg team! Class 3 went to Hofer. The Swiss-born Martin Koch who not only got the class win but also the overall win made his way home with 6 Trophy’s!
For a great racing atmosphere, provided Adi Atcy Janaczek, who shouted his soul out of his body in the usual manner and let the Audience take part in the race. Many thanks also to the team of Pannoniaring and race director Gyöngyi Szabo, who did a great job, as well as to the commissioners of the OSK who made sure that everything was correct.
TCM SPRINT Race 1
TCM KLASSE 2
P1 Bob Bau
P2 Daniel Drexel
P2 Denis Liebl
TCM KLASSE 3
P1 Max Grip
not classified: Gerald Hofer
TCM KLASSE 4
P1 Martin Koch
P2 Ralf Ott
not classified: Denis G. Watt
TCM SPRINT Race 1 GESAMT
P1 Martin Koch
P2 Max Grip
P3 Ralf Ott
TCM SPRINT RENNEN 2
TCM KLASSE 2
P1 Bob Bau
P2 Denis Liebl
P2 Ekaterina Lüscher
TCM KLASSE 3
P1 Max Grip
not classified: Gerald Hofer
TCM KLASSE 4
P1 Martin Koch
P2 Ralf Ott
TCM SPRINT Race 2 GESAMT
P1 Martin Koch
P2 Max Grip
P3 Ralf Ott
TCM ENDURANCE Race
TCM KLASSE 2
P1 Daniel Drexel
P1 Denis Liebl
P2 Ekaterina Lüscher
TCM KLASSE 3
P1 Gerald Hofer
P2 Max Grip/ Ralf Ott
TCM KLASSE 4
P1 Martin Koch
TCM ENDURANCE GESAMT
P1 Martin Koch
P2 Daniel Drexel
P3 Gerald Hofer