Veteran Dirk Ehlebracht achieves double PRTC victory at the Hockenheimring
Hockenheimring. This year’s opening weekend of the Pfister-Racing Touring Car Challenge (PRTC) season took place at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg from 24-26/03/2023. Many visitors made their way to the racing circuit to take in the atmosphere of the vast program of the DMV racing weekend. You could also follow the races on screen thanks to a brilliant live-stream with commentary.
Once more, the PRTC was true to the series motto “real cars, real racing” with a vast starting field where plenty of touring car action could be found.
“We started 2023’s season with a great deal of motivation, also with thanks to the excellent support from our official series partners TOYO TIRES, CARAMBA CHEMIE, RAVENOL, SONIC EQUIPMENT and ACV (Automobil-Club Verkehr). We saw veterans of the sport and gentleman drivers as well as rookies and enthusiastic youngsters at the Hockenheimring. This appealing mix will bring us a great deal of excitement, of that I am sure. And all this at affordable costs for the drivers!” explained series organizer Andreas Pfister before the start of the racing weekend.
Marcalis Shinaul (USA) had his debut at the Hockenheimring in PRTC class 1 in the CUPRA Ibiza racing car
The drivers were accompanied by changing spring weather conditions over the entire weekend
The constantly changing weather added another little bit of excitement. Intermittent rain showers with the racing circuit then drying off again when the sun came out really put the drivers to the test. But in any case, the drivers had the right tires on their cars for these conditions:
the Semi-Slick Proxes R888R from TOYO TIRES offers the ideal grip in both dry and wet track conditions.
A surprise during a rainy qualifying session: Marco Chianese gets first pole position
After the first free training session in which the drivers were able to get used to the racing circuit, the qualifying session started to determine the starting line-up, which could only be released during the second attempt.
In wet and slippery track conditions, Marco Chianese (ITA, Würzburg) had an excellent round with a time of 2:38:877 which secured him his first pole position, just ahead of Raphael Rennhofer (AUT, Niederneukirchen).
Next in line was Marco Bedrich (GER, Cottbus) and Dirk Ehlebracht (GER, Oberursel) who made up the second row of the starting line-up.
The best starting position in class 1 was secured by youngster Florian Bek (GER, Blaustein), ahead of Marcalis Shinaul (USA, Ansbach).
Marco Chianese (ITA) taking his first pole position with an excellent lap time, ahead of Raphael Rennhofer
The first race brings a dry spell and a turbulent initial phase
After the starting positions were determined in the qualifying session, the drivers were all dealt a new hand before the first race on Saturday evening. The racing circuit had time to dry off completely, and the drivers had completely different conditions to contend with yet again.
The race was started with a rolling “Indianapolis start,” where the racing cars approach the starting lights in a two-by-two formation.
Ehlebracht in first place: a confident victory in race 1
After the starting lights announced the start of the race, Marco Chianese failed to capitalize on his good position and had a bad start in the sprint to the first curve. Another racer, however, who did certainly manage to throw the weight of his experience to his advantage was Dirk Ehlebracht. He sprinted from fourth position directly to the front, and took the lead directly after the first curve with a courageous brake maneuver.
He was also able to reinforce this lead straight away thanks to his strong lap times and managed to achieve a respectable distance from the competition, which lost a few meters on the racing circuit due to various points where two or even three drivers were battling it out between themselves.
A perfect start to the season for Dirk Ehlebracht from Oberursel with a total of 20 points
After a few skirmishes, Marco Bedrich was able to assert himself as Ehlebracht’s chaser in his CHEVROLET Cruze Eurocup racing car 1.8 LT V4, securing himself second place. He was followed by David Stein (GER, Usingen) and Marco Chianese by just a few seconds.
In class 1 of the CUPRA Ibiza racing car, Florian Bek let nothing get in his way and placed well ahead of Marcalis Shinaul, and was even able to battle for the positions with a few “Chevy racing cars.”
Dirk Ehlebracht confidently took home his first victory of the season, ahead of Marco Bedrich and David Stein, whose third place secured him a PRTC podium position for the first time. Marco Chianese had to be content with fourth place, ahead of Raphael Rennhofer who rounded off the top 5.
The other point positions went to Hasan Blitz (GER, Germering) ahead of Lars Stubanus (GER, Gernsbach), Dominik Amthor (GER, Munich) and Benjamin Koslowski (USA, Atlanta) ,who all enjoyed their PRTC debut with their first racing weekend.
A rainy battle in the second race
The weather conditions were all over the place again for the second race on Sunday. The heavens opened once more over the Hockenheimring and made for a rainy race, really putting the drivers to the test also in terms of the difficult visibility caused by the spray.
This time, Ehlebracht took advantage of his excellent starting position and maintained his lead in front of Marco Bedrich, who put real pressure on him over the course of the race and coped well with the slippery track conditions.
From left to right: Marco Bedrich, Dirk Ehlebracht and Raphael Rennhofer on the podium after race 2
But Ehlebracht, an old hand, made no mistakes and gave his chaser Bedrich no opportunity to pass him. Raphael Rennhofer also displayed his excellent driving skills: The 16-year-old Austrian achieved the fastest lap time with 2:41:800 on the clock, which meant that he also made it to the podium.
4th place went to Marco Chianese once more, ahead of David Stein who was able to round off the top 5 positions this time. In class 1, Florian Bek also took home a safe victory in the second race.
After the first battle at the famous Hockenheimring, the “PRTC heroes” don’t have very long to relax, because the next races will take place from 28-30/04/2023 at Circuit Zolder (BEL), which has been included as a PRTC season venue for the first time ever, which means that none of the drivers will have any experience-based advantage there.
Pictures: Pfister-Racing GmbH
