After a long summer break, the BMW M2 Cup was back on track at the Nürburgring. Despite the cancellation of race 1 for the fog in the Eifel, Jacqueline Kreutzpointner had a stunning race on Sunday, which ended with her best result of the season so far in P6. Alesia Kreutzpointer also a top-10 finish with P9, overcoming technical issues in practice.
It was time to get back from the long summer break for the BMW M2 Cup, as the series at its second season headed to the Nürburgring after a two month break. With prominent guest drivers from Germany - such as former MotoGP driver Alex Hoffmann and TV presenter Matthias Killing - mingling with series regulars like Alesia and Jacqueline Kreutzpointner, who were back to aim for more points in the second half of the season.
"I finished qualifying in eighth place. I'm actually very satisfied. I'm half a second off pole and there's still potential there" - wrote Jacqueline Kreutzpointner. "Step by step in the right direction. The times in the BMW M2 Cup are very close together. Looks like we can expect an exciting race tomorrow" - she added on Friday afternoon.
But Saturday was not kind to the BMW M2 Cup drivers: the start of the first race was initially delayed, then cancelled altogether due to a thick layer of fog that engulfed the track.
Because of the high number of DTM support series, the race will not be rescheduled unfortunately, and there was nothing else to do than hope that Sunday would bring better weather in the Eifel. But the drivers and fans were not stopped by the bad weather, as they still found a way to enjoy themselves with a Mario Kart tournament for the drivers that kept the fans entertained even in the difficult conditions.
Sunday looked a lot more friendlier and track action could get underway also for the BMW M2 Cup drivers.
Maxime Oosten scored pole position ahead of Fabian Kreim and Bartholomew Horsten. Jacqueline Kreutzpointer qualified 10th while her twin sister Alesia Kreutzpointner lined up in 13th place for the only race on the weekend.
Oosten had a good start, but Marc David Müller charged from sixth position on the grid with a rocket start and snatched the lead - albeit with his rival on his tail. Oosten would pass him on lap 3 again for the first position. Just a couple of moments later, it turned out that Müller's start was too good to be true and he was handed a drive through penalty for jumping the start.
While Oosten had an easy job at the front, behind him the battle for second position was heated between Horsten and Kreim. The latter had a though job to challenge Horsten, but he could make a move stick at the end of the race to finish second.
Alesia Kreutzpointner finished ninth and scored another Top-10 results despite she had her practice session hampered by a technical issue that limited her track time. The result is nevertheless a very promising outcome for the rounds to come.
“I couldn’t do a single lap in free practice because my car had no power" - she told us. "Accordingly, I had to go straight into qualifying without any practice."
"The race on Saturday was then cancelled due to heavy fog. In the end, I was able to make up a few places on Sunday and ended up in P9, which I can be satisfied with considering the circumstances.” - she explained.
Jacqueline Kreutzpointner also had a very strong race and clinched her best finish to date in the 2022 season: a sixth place that rewards her efforts after a though race with plenty of battles and overtakings. It was a clean and smart drive for Jacqueline, who could show her pace and fighting spirit at the Ring after a few unlucky races in the series.
“The weekend at the Nürburgring was very good for me", told us Jacqueline. "After a bad start to the season, I was finally able to deliver my usual performance."
"I still have to work on my qualifying, as I didn't get my good sectors together", she continued. "That's why I only had starting positions of P8 for race 1 and P10 for Sunday's race - although I could have done a lot better."
"In the M2 Cup this is of course particularly bad, because we all have the same cars and overtaking is more difficult."
The series is in fact also randomly assigning cars to the drivers after each round, to guarantee equality of equipment.
"For Sunday it was difficult for me to start the race only from P10", Jacqueline recalled. "I was stuck behind a driver for a very long time at the beginning, who was able to block very well. I didn't want to risk anything and waited for a good moment to overtake him. I managed that, too. But as a result I lost the connection to the group in front of me."
"Nevertheless, I wanted to close the big gap and pushed very hard. I drove faster lap times and thus not only caught up with the group, but was able to overtake 3 other drivers. So in the end I moved up from P10 to P6" - she concluded, summing up a very exciting race for the young German driver.
The next round of the BMW M2 Cup will take place from 9th to 11th September at Spa-Franchorchamps with another chance for the fast racing twins to aim for the Top5 and a first podium in the series.
