VM comes to Nürburgring as points leader
Published on 14 August 2008 by Niels Hendrix
After the long break around the Le Mans 24 Hours, action in the Le Mans Series resumes this weekend with the Nürburgring 1000 km race. Dutch team Van Merksteijn Motorsport by Equipe Verschuur is leading in the points' standings before the race at the famous circuit in the Eifel, where Jos Verstappen and Jeroen Bleekemolen will be driving the Porsche RS Spyder. The 476 hp strong German sports car, that won its class in all three LMS rounds held so far this season and with Van Merksteijn Motorsport by Equipe Verschuur also claimed victory in the LMP2 class in the Le Mans 24 Hours, will be racing in its home country for the first time. The race at the 5.148 kilometres long circuit will start on Sunday at 12.05 h. The first two hours and the final hour of the race can be watched live on Eurosport 2. The entire race will be broadcast live on Motors TV, while there is also live coverage of qualifying and the race via www.radiolemans.com.
With victories at Barcelona and Spa-Francorchamps and a second place after a great recovery at Monza, Van Merksteijn Motorsport had a very successful start of the season in the Le Mans Series. This was crowned with victory in the LMP2 class in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Jos Verstappen, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Peter van Merksteijn in the Porsche RS Spyder. Now, the next goal is the title in the LMP2 class of the Le Mans series, where there are still two races to go: this weekend at the Nürburgring and in four weeks' time at Silverstone.
At the Nurburgring, the Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS SPyder will be raced by Jeroen Bleekemolen and Jos Verstappen. Peter van Merksteijn is competing in the German round of the World Rally Championship on the same weekend. "The rally is based in Trier, only one hour away from the Nürburgring. We briefly considered letting Peter take part in both events, but that turned out to be impossible", says team principal Gerard Grouve. "With Jeroen and Jos, we have a strong line-up, so it will be all right!" Bleekemolen raced at the Nürburgring only last weekend, taking part in two rounds of the German MINI Challenge. "It will be my first LMS race with the Porsche, I am really looking forward to it", says the driver, who can already claim the title in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup only one week later in Valencia. Jos Verstappen is also looking forward to the upcoming race. "I have never raced at the Nürburgring since the lay-out changed in 2002, but the changes involved only the first few corners. The rest of the circuit I know well and I am sure that the track suits our Porsche, which does particularly well in corners."
On Friday, August 15th, there will be two free practice sessions at the Nürburgring from 12.15 till 13.15 and from 17.00 till 18.00 h. On Saturday, August 16th, there is another free practice session from 9.05 till 10.05 h, followed by qualifying for the LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes from 14.10 till 14.30 h. Warm-up is on Sunday, August 17th, from 8.40 till 9.00 h, the race with a distance of 195 laps (1003.860 kilometres) will start at 12.05 h with a maximum duration of six hours.
Niels Hendrix
