Touring car action par excellence at the PRTC season opener at the

Motorsportarena Oschersleben

Oschersleben. The Pfister-Racing Touring Car Challenge (PRTC) started its new season on Germany’s northernmost race track, the Motorsportarena Oschersleben, on May 7 to 9, 2021. The 3.696 km long race track in the Magdeburger Börde has been a permanent fixture on the racing calendar for a long time.

The PRTC opened the season with a large starting field: ten racing drivers fought for points and trophies in the CHEVROLET Cruze Eurocup 1,8 LT V4 Cup racing car in the highly competitive division A, class 2, as well as one racing driver in the CUPRA Ibiza V1 Cup racing car in the division A, class 1.

"We are already very satisfied with the current starting field, but can promise that one or two more touring cars will be added in the next races," said organizer Andreas Pfister with a twinkle in his eye.

Real cars, real racing: that’s the Pfister-Racing Touring Car Challenge (PRTC) motto

All racing cars are equipped with standard tires from TOYO TIRES, with the semi-slick Proxes R888R, which in combination with the central fielding of racing cars by Pfister-Racing GmbH ensures a high level of equal opportunities at affordable costs.

The winner of the 2021 Pfister Racing Touring Car Challenge will receive a free test drive in the 350 hp TCR racing car.

Björn Dietrich takes outstanding opening win despite handicap

After the first test laps in the free practice session, which was still held under damp and cold weather conditions, the qualifying session afterwards to determine the starting grid was already really intense.

Björn Dietrich (GER, Wittenberg) secured pole position ahead of Tim Schestag (GER, Walldorf) and Robin Renz (GER, Filderstadt). But as soon as the rolling “Indianapolis” start to Race 1 got underway, the pole-sitter experienced a moment of shock when his hood came loose and blocked his view of the race track.

But Dietrich was not going to let this stop him: he boldly kept his foot down, took advantage of his competitors’ moment of uncertainty and was able to “shake off” the open hood in the first lap, and maintained his lead in the race quite sensationally.

Hood? A luxury product for Björn Dietrich!

After these brilliant first few laps the competition started to chase Dietrich, but without success, with him bringing home an unchallenged victory!

There were a number of bumps in the battle for the other positions, which threw Robin Renz back to fourth position due to a spin. The other places on the podium were taken by a strong Tim Schestag in front of Roman Holzner (GER, Munich).

How close the field is this season was shown by the other wheel-to-wheel battles by David Stein (GER, Usingen) as well as Marco Bedrich (GER, Cottbus) and Mathias Gaiser (GER, Oberursel), who crossed the finish line within a few seconds of each other.

The successful drivers in the first race: f.l.t.r. Tim Schestag, Björn Dietrich and Roman Holzner

An equally great debut in touring car racing was delivered by racing driver Noah-Gabriel Vogler (GER, Ranstadt), who is just 16 years old. He steered his CUPRA Ibiza V1 Cup racing car flawlessly around the track and even managed to battle duels with the more powerful CHEVROLET Cruze Eurocup 1,8 LT V4 racing cars.

In the adrenaline-fueled first race, Patrick Huber (GER, Stuttgart) scored the final championship point ahead of Dirk Ehlebracht (GER, Oberursel) and Thomas Eckert (GER, Nuremberg), both of whom were struggling with technical problems on their racing cars.

The result of the first race was doubly important, as it also counted as the starting grid for the second race on Sunday.

In the meantime, the racers were able to compete in dry and hot conditions. The weather in Saxony-Anhalt had improved noticeably and the conditions on Sunday were perfect with bright sunshine and an outside temperature of up to 25 degrees Celsius.

Sheer suspense in the second race: Robin Renz secures a sensational win!

Anyone who thought that the first race would be unrivaled in terms of excitement was mistaken. Race two had every touring car fan’s heart racing with countless wheel-to-wheel battles.

The racing drivers had a tussle right at the start in the first S-curve: Tim Schestag got off to a good start and positioned himself cleverly to take the lead from Björn Dietrich, who wasn’t impressed at all, resulting in them promptly both bumping into each other in the second bend, forcing Schestag into a spin.

Roman Holzner seized the opportunity and took the lead, but Dietrich was already lurking in Holzner’s slipstream after a few laps, despite losing his front bumper, ready to attack him at the end of the start-finish straight. There was another bump again and this time Holzner sent Dietrich into a spin.

Robin Renz secured a sensational win in just his second touring car race

Robin Renz’s hour had come: he had wisely stayed out of the skirmishes so far and was now directly in Roman Holzner’s slipstream. Holzner tried everything to salvage his victory in the last laps over the finish line, but Renz managed to push past the driver from Munich, thus accomplishing his first touring car victory.

Despite all the skirmishes, Dietrich still managed to make it onto the podium ahead of David Stein, who scored a strong points result. The Top-5 was completed by Dirk Ehlebracht, who managed to move forwards from the very back, ahead of Tim Schestag and Mathias Gaiser. The final championship point went to Marco Bedrich.

The PRTC action will continue in Austria soon, from June 11-13, 2021 at the Salzburgring (AUT)