Julian Müller at the German Championship in Kerpen

Strong Mach1 performance stays unrewarded – In Kerpen, factory team impresses on Saturday, has some bad luck then

Last weekend the Mach1 Motorsport team travelled to the German Kart Championship in Kerpen. Martin Hetschel’s protégés showed great performances on the Erftlandring on Saturday and wanted to repeat these on the racing Sunday. In the end they had to deal with major setbacks but were then able to draw positive conclusions for the future.

Beaming sunshine and filled up spectator terraces. 153 drivers from more than 20 different nations. A demanding challenge in Germany’s highest racing series awaited Mach1 Motorsport on the Erftlandring. All in all, the German chassis manufacturer sent in nine drivers in all four grade series.

The juniors Luca Voncken and Julien-Noel Rehberg entered new territory: They started in front of such a setting for the first time and went up against strong international competition. Voncken did really well on Saturday and raced forward to 11th position at the first heat after coming in 27th at qualifying. Julien-Noel Rehberg also increased his performance continuously throughout Saturday and drove from 41st place at qualifying to 23rd and 20th positions at the heats. The junior duo didn’t have a lot of luck during the final races on Sunday though and had to deal with three fallings-out.

At the German Shifterkart Championship, Marcel Schultheiß and Daniel Stell represented Mach1 Motorsport. Daniel Stell was on the right track on Saturday: After 14th position at qualifying he gained nine places during the first heat and came in fifth. A falling out at the second heat made him start into the final races from 18th place though. He then already fought his way forward during the first ranked race to 13th place and was aiming for the top five for quite a while during the second race. “Unfortunately the mounting of my radiator broke and I wasn’t able to go on driving”, said Daniel at the finish line. Team mate Marcel Schultheiß wasn’t able to enter the final races due to a falling out at one of the heats and therefore only was an involuntary spectator on Sunday.

At the German Shifterkart Cup, Julian Müller started into the event on the 1.107m long Erftlandring as the overall leading driver. Saturday started promisingly. First he achieved fifth place at qualifying – then he won the first heat with a considerable advance to his opponents. Sixth place at the second heat brought him the fifth starting position for the final races. But a technical defect of the engine forced him to end the race prematurely during the first race already. He also had to deal with a falling out during the second race – a major setback. Tim Schröder on the other hand fought among midfield to keep close to the leading drivers – for him it was a successful event in Kerpen.

Mach1 Motorsport sent a trio to start at the grade series of the OK drivers of the German Kart Championship. Luka Wlömer and David Liwinski kept a clear view despite the rough duels among midfield and held their ground. Liwinski was close to the top ten at the first race by coming in twelfth. Cameron Boedler tried to set a course as well and started into the final races from the strong ninth place after the heats. But just like his team mates he had to deal with some setbacks on Sunday. Technical difficulties caused him problems and he had to bow out of the first race. During his catching-up race at the second final race he was involved in an accident and wasn’t able to get past 27th place in a damaged chassis.

“It’s really frustrating”, complained team leader Martin Hetschel on Sunday evening in Kerpen: “If you look at how well we did on Saturday, the results on Sunday hurt even more. But I don’t want to criticize my boys, who gave their all and just had lots of bad luck. We’re now going to pick ourselves up and prepare well for the ADAC Kart Masters in Wackersdorf.”

The Mach1 Motorsport team now has three weeks to prepare for the event at the Prokart Raceland. With the pace and performance of Saturday in Kerpen they can really hope for good results in Wackersdorf.

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