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IX. AvD/MVBL Rundstreckenrennen “Bergischer Löwe”

Zolder, Belgium

Date: 12/3/1978
Track length: 4.261 m
Attendance: 30.000
Entries accepted:
Starters: 13 (div. 1), 11 (div. 2)
Finishers: 12 (div. 1), 10 (div. 2)

Pole position: Hezemans in 1.33,0 (div. 1), Ertl in 1.37,4 (div. 2)
Fastest lap: Hezemans in 1.34,6 (div. 1), Winkelhock in 1.37,5 (div. 2)

Distance: 14 laps (div. 1, shortened because of the rain), 24 laps (div. 2)
Average speed: 158,36 kmh (div. 1), 156,08 kmh (div. 2)
Weather: Rain showers
Ruleset: Group 5
Car info: 1978 Cars

Pictures

One might conclude that in the second year of the Group 5 German Championship a turbo engine was a necessity. That was already the case in Division one, but the front row of the division 2 grid consisted of Ertl in a 320 Turbo and Winkelhock in another 320 turbo, despite Zolder not being a turbo track at all.
The Junior team had left, and many an atmospheric 320 with it. The field was meagre: Three Escorts (2 Zakspeed, one private), the two Turbo 320’s mentioned, another turbo (Heidegger) for Brun, and four atmospheric 320’s: two GS (Krebs and new boy Höttinger) and Faltz (the Belgium and Austria/UK cars, for Nève and Grohs).
Ertl, with Winkelhock’s rebuilt 1977, car took the lead after the start in front of Winkelhock, with Heyer third closely followed by Grohs. When Ertl lapped Brun in the chicane, Winkelhock appeared beside him, so Ertl spun and dropped to fifth. He improved that to fourth at the finish, behind Winkelhock, Heyer and Grohs.

In division 1 it was Porsche all the way, the only intruder being the Toyota, now in red. Many problems in practice, an early retirement in the race - let’s turn to thing more important, like the Kremer-Loos war, season 5.
Loos brought two enormous transporters, of which one was empty - it would be used in future for the third car (Ludwig). Just a show-off, but Kremer countered with the fact that his transporter was a few inches longer...
Schurti, helped by Dunlop tyres, took a shot at pole position, but Loos would have nothing of it and sent Hezemans out - pole with a shattering 1.33,0. The field consisted of seven new twin-turbo’s, two Benelux entries for van Oorschot and Bourgoignie (who clocked exactly the same practice time, and finished only 1,6 seconds apart), as well as three other single-turbos.
But the race would go between the two Loos cars, Wollek and Schurti - with Hezemans in the lead after the start, followed by Wollek, Schurti and Fitz. The luckless Schurti could keep Fitzpatrick behind him until his clutch got oily and he had to retire.
Halfway through the race, rain set in, the track flooded and the race was stopped with Hezemans declared the winner.

Division 1
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 6 Weisberg Gelo Team
Porsche 935-77A		 Toine Hezemans, NL
 2994 tc B6 Division 1 14 laps, 22.43,4 1 1.33,0 1.34,6  
2 2 2 Vaillant Kremer Team
Porsche 935-77A		 Bob Wollek, F
 2994 tc B6 Division 1 14 laps, 22.44,9 3 1.33,5    
3 3 8 Weisberg Gelo Team
Porsche 935-77A		 John Fitzpatrick, GB
 2994 tc B6 Division 1 14 laps, 22.56,9 4 1.34,0    
4 4 33  
Porsche 935 K2		 Claude Bourgoignie, B
 2857 tc B6 Division 1 14 laps, 23.37,0 7 1.36,1    
5 5 31 Scorpio Racing
Porsche 935		 Henri van Oorschot, NL
 2857 tc B6 Division 1 14 laps, 23.38,6 8 1.36,1    
6 6 7 Equipe Liqui Moly
Porsche 935-77A		 Reinhold Jöst, D
 2994 tc B6 Division 1 13 5 1.35,4    
7 7 16 Konrad Racing
Porsche 935		 Volkert Merl, D
 2857 tc B6 Division 1 13 9 1.37,0    
8 8 3 Porsche Kremer Racing
Porsche 935-77A		 Dieter Schornstein, D
 2994 tc B6 Division 1 13 11 1.40,5    
9 9 4 Porsche Kremer Racing
Porsche 935 K2		 Louis Krages ("John Winter"), D
 2857 tc B6 Division 1 13 12 1.42,0    
10 10 18  
Porsche 935		 Klaus Drees, D
 2857 tc B6 Division 1 13 13 1.44,2    
11 11 5 Jägermeister Max Moritz Team
Porsche 935-77A		 Manfred Schurti, FL
 2994 tc B6 Division 1 12 2 1.33,2   Clutch
12 12 10 Konrad Racing
Porsche 935-77A		 Franz Konrad, A
 2994 tc B6 Division 1 11 6 1.36,0   Accident
DNF   1 Toyota Deutschland
Toyota Celica 2000 LB Turbo		 Rolf Stommelen, D
 2090 tc L4 Division 1   10 1.40,0   Overheating

Division 2
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 50 Würth HAT
BMW 320 Turbo 1.4		 Manfred Winkelhock, D
 1428 tc L4 Division 2 24 laps, 39.31,4 2 1.37,4 1.37,5  
2 2 52 Mampe Ford Zakspeed
Ford Escort II RS		 Hans Heyer, D
 1975 L4 Division 2 24 laps, 39.33,1 3 1.37,9    
3 3 59 Faltz-Alpina Essen/BMW Austria+UK
BMW 320		 Harald Grohs, D
 1990 L4 Division 2 24 laps, 39.54,6 4 1.39,5    
4 4 55 Sachs Sporting
BMW 320 Turbo 1.4		 Harald Ertl, A
 1428 tc L4 Division 2 24 laps, 39.58,8 1 1.37,4    
5 5 53 Mampe Ford Zakspeed
Ford Escort II RS		 Armin Hahne, D
 1975 L4 Division 2 24 laps, 39.59,6 7 1.39,7    
6 6 57 Team GS - Fruit of the Loom
BMW 320		 Markus Höttinger, A
 1990 L4 Division 2 24 laps, 40.22,7 6 1.39,7    
7 7 56 Team GS - Fruit of the Loom
BMW 320		 Albrecht Krebs, D
 1990 L4 Division 2 24 laps, 41.06,7 9 1.40,9    
8 8 61 Heidegger-Buess Team
BMW 320 Turbo 1.4		 Walter Brun, CH
 1428 tc L4 Division 2 23 8 1.40,6    
9 9 62 Vogelsberger Blockhäuser
Ford Escort II RS		 Bernd Ringshausen, D
 1975 L4 Division 2 22 11 1.46,6    
10 10 58 Faltz-Alpina Essen/BMW Belgium
BMW 320		 Patrick Nève, B
 1990 L4 Division 2 21 5 1.39,5   Electrics
DNF   51 Würth HAT
BMW 320		 Reinhold Hohmann, D
 1990 L4 Division 2 5 10 1.41,8   Fuel tank
DNS   64 IFM Efector
BMW 2002		 Peter Kuhlmann, D
 1990 L4 Division 2   12      
DNS   63 Renngemeinschaft Holstein
BMW 2002		 Willi Hatje, D
 1990 L4 Division 2   13      

Group 1 under 1600 cc
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 6 VW Schultz / TM Essen
VW Golf GTI		 Heinz-Jürgen Hoffknecht, D
 1588 L4 Group 1B 12        
2 2 5  
Audi 80 GTE		 Alfons Hohenester, D
 1588 L4 Group 1B          
3 3 2 Willi Nies KG
VW Golf GTI		 Norbert Brauer, D
 1588 L4 Group 1B          
4 4 18  
VW Golf GTI		 Heinz Schallgemeier, D
 1588 L4 Group 1B          
5 5 7 VW Schultz / TM Essen
VW Golf GTI		 Helmut Konka, D
 1588 L4 Group 1B          
6 6 14  
Audi 80 GTE		 Franz Schneider, D
 1588 L4 Group 1B          
7 7 8  
VW Golf GTI		 Georg Lensing-Hebben, D
 1588 L4 Group 1B          
8 8 4 Remco Team
Toyota Corolla		 Henri van Gompel, B
 1588 L4 Group 1B          
9 9    
VW Golf GTI		 Andreas Esche, D
 1588 L4 Group 1B          
10 10 3 Autostal De Bokkenrijders
Sunbeam Avenger		 Raoul Frederix, B
 1594 L4 Group 1B          
11 1 16  
Simca Rallye 3		 Uwe Wirbelauer, D
 1294 L4 Group 1B          
12 2 17  
Simca Rallye 2		 Alexander Zitnik, D
 1294 L4 Group 1B          

Group 1 over 1600 cc
Pos Pos in class # Team / Entrant
Car- Engine		 Drivers, Nationality Engine
vol. (cc)		 Engine
Type		 Group Distance,
time		 Qualifying position Qualifying time Fastest lap Reason out,
remarks
1 1 60 Ford Berkenkamp Racing
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Winfried Maiworm, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500 12 laps        
2 2 55 Eichberg Racing
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Bernd Dransmann, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
3 3 62 KWS Autotechnik Team
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Frank Ossenberg, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
4 4 70 Eichberg Racing
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Wulf-Gunter Schumacher, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
5 5 59 Sports Car Club of Stuttgart
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Herbert Kummle, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
6 6 53 Ford Berkenkamp Racing
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Franz-Josef Bröhling, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
7 7 66 Eichberg Racing
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Karsten Ruhrmann, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
8 8 57 Eichberg Racing
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Rudolf Gülker, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
9 9 71 Scuderia Colonia
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Günter Wohlfahrter, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
10 10 69 Ford Berkenkamp Racing
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Holger Soltwedel, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500          
11 1 52 Eichberg Racing
Ford Capri 3.0S		 Ingolf Bedrich, D
 2993 V6 Group 1B +2500          
12 11 68 Ford Berkenkamp Racing
Ford Escort II RS 2000		 Dieter Selzer, D
 1993 L4 Group 1B 2500