Three years after their last appearance at Hockenheim, the BOSS GP Racing Series was back at the start of the traditional event this weekend in honour of F1 World Champion Jim Clark who died in Hockenheim in 1968. The unique mix of cars – from Formula 1 cars with V10 engines to World Series V6 cars – made the Motodrom shake.
OPEN
The Formula 1 and IndyCars classification was once again easy pickings for Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) in the Toro Rosso STR1. Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) from Tübingen in the Benetton B197 skilfully kept out of all the fights around him in Saturday’s race and thus secured second place. His Benetton twin Phil Stratford (USA, Penn Elcom Racing) was only to be seen for a short time, with technical problems he had to retire from the race early on. In the second race it was the same story: Gerstl drove to a safe double victory, behind him both Stratford (2nd) and Ulf Ehninger (3rd) were able to score despite an early technical knockout.
FORMULA
The FORMULA classification with the Formula 2 and World Series cars was the most turbulent: The three-way battle between the Italians Marco Ghiotto (Scuderia Palladio), Simone Colombo and Luca Martucci (both MM International) entertained the audience in the first race on site and in the live stream – standing wheels and braking attempts included. On the penultimate lap, Colombo managed the decisive braking manoeuvre against Ghiotto in the hairpin. Colombo thus moved up to second place at the last minute. The class win went to 17-year-old Zdenek Chovanec-Lopez (CZE, MM International) in his debut race in the BOSS GP Racing Series.
The rookie continued to set an incredible pace for almost twenty minutes in the second race and already looked like the secure winner when his tyres started to degrade badly. He tried to keep the approaching Colombo behind him, but the effort was in vain. Colombo used his Pirelli P-Zero slicks better and with this strategy took the win in Sunday’s race and the joint lead in the standings with Chovanec-Lopez, who still managed to finish second ahead of Ghiotto. Martucci crossed the finish line in an ungrateful fourth place. Michael Aberer (AUT, MA Motorsport) finished in 5th place, having recorded a good result in race 2 after his retirement in Saturday’s race.
SUPER LIGHTS
Victory in the six-cylinder classification went to Andreas Hasler (AUT, Hasler Motorsport). His fellow countryman Alexander Geier (Geier Racing), who is only 16 years old, was unable to take part in the race after a fire during practice.
Harald Schlegelmilch (LVA, HS Engineering) in the yellow and black World Series V8 car managed to leave all FORMULA cars behind him in both races after a broken driveshaft in qualifying. The former Formula 3 driver thus won the new classification of the modified BOSS GP cars.
The next two races of the BOSS GP Racing Series will follow in four weeks’ time (3–5 June 2022) as part of the Rundstreckentrophy at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Admission is free.
Harald Schlegelmilch (LVA, HS Engineering), Hockenheim double winner:
“We tried different setups – less top speed, more downforce and then vice versa. I think we found a good mix in the end. The team did a great job, the car is really fast. I hope we will come back for the next races. I made donuts in the Motodrom for the numerous fans. I hope they liked it.”
Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International), Championship leader FORMULA class:
“For me it’s already great to participate in this great series. At the start of the second race I tried hard to overtake Marco Ghiotto – I didn’t manage that in the first race. When I overtook Marco in race two, I was able to take it easy and not overuse the tyres, so I was able to catch up with my team-mate Zdenek. This year I definitely want to race for the championship!”
The two races as part of the Bosch Hockenheim Historic can be viewed in replay at www.hockenheim-historic.de/en/live
Note: The overall standings are currently still unofficial, as the modified FORMULA car class is only just being added to the regulations.
Next BOSS GP Racing Series Race Dates 2022:
3–5 June | Rundstreckentrophy Red Bull Ring Spielberg (Austria)
17–19 June | French Historic Grand Prix Le Castellet (France)
9–11 September | Masaryk Racing Days Brno (Czech Republic)
14–16 October | Forza Fanatec Mugello (Italy)
4–6 November | Pirelli Grande Finale Misano (Italy)
one more race event will be added on a later date
What is BOSS GP?
Nowhere else can racing cars of the highest categories still be seen fulfilling their original purpose: racing. “BOSS” stands for Big Open Single Seater, which means: Only the large and powerful formula racing cars of recent years are allowed here. In addition to the Formula 1 cars of the past 20 years, the FIA-certified BOSS GP series is also open to Formula 2, IndyCar, World Series by Renault and A1 GP, among others. All together they offer action-packed, fast and powerful racing at its finest, which in this form is unique in the world of motorsports.
More on www.bossgp.com
