Germany; Wurst wins at NRW Challenge Rd3

Results of the top ten 1/8 scale
1. Christian Wurst, 167 laps – Motonica / Sirio / Matrix / Tornado
2. Ralf Vahrenkamp, 166 – Serpent / Novarossi / Xceed
3. Uwe Baldes, 163 – Motonica / Team Orion / Xceed

Like at round one in Dueren and round two at Oberhausen the final race was run for long 45 minutes which is a distinguishing mark of the NRW Challenge. Tobias Hepp turned his pole position into an early lead but later he ran into engine trouble with his Mega power unit. He lost the front position and after some flame outs he had to retire at the 36 minutes mark. Christian Wurst was ready to take the opportunity and took the win following a steady and fast run with his Sirio powered P81. One lap behind Ralf Vahrenkamp brought his Novarossi powered 966 home on second position while Uwe Baldes on third place completed a double podium finish for Motonica with his Team Orion powered P81. Fastest lap of the final went to Tobias Hepp, winner of round one and two, with a possibly record-braking 14,680 seconds. Only Hepp and Uwe Baldes (14,975) were able to break the 15 second barrier.

In 1/8 scale it was once again Tobias Hepp clinching pole position with 20 laps in 5.08,182 minutes. The Serpent youngster was followed by the two Motonica P81’s of Christian Wurst and Uwe Baldes, fourth position went to Serpent racer Ralf Vahrenkamp. In the two 30 minutes semi finals Frank Schewiola at his Mugen “test race”, Emil Kostadinov (Mugen), Andreas Goebel (Serpent), Christian Willert (Serpent), Ingo Odenthal (Serpent) and Sebastian Scheidweiler (Serpent) were able to jump up into the final.

Motonica team driver Christian Wurst in the 1/8 nitro class and Mugen racer Sebastian Buerge in the 1/10 200mm nitro class are the winner of the third and ultimate round of the new NRW Challenge (NRW = German State North Rhine-Westphalia) which was held at the track of the MCC Rhein-Ahr at Bad Breisig, located at the Rhine river between Bonn and Koblenz. The 254 meter track offered a good grip level and also the weather conditions were quite good with temperatures up to twelve degrees Celsius for this late outdoor racing action which would have deserved some more entries.