1.09.09 No summer break for Wolfgang Kaufmann

No less than five races were on the agenda for German motor racing professional Wolfgang Kaufmann during the month of August.

Wolfgang Kaufmann

Formula Le Mans

Lavaggi LS1 AER LMP1

The first weekend of the month saw him drive in Formula Le Mans' first appearance at the new track in Portimao, Portugal.

With the prototype car similar to LMP2 standards, Kaufmann and his Italian co-driver Luca Moro managed two results within the Top 10.

"Luca and myself are a pro-am combinaton as required by the regulations, with a professional and an ambitious amateur driver. Unfortunately, the teams fighting for the podium spots are 100% professional line-ups of drivers that have come into the series directly from single seater racing. On the other Hand, Luca Moro has only started racing a few years ago, and Formula Le Mans is his first venture into prototype racing", Kaufmann explains the difficult scenario for the team.

Three weeks later, they travelled to Kaufmann's home race on the Nürburgring. Again, two races of Formula Le Mans were held in support of the legendary 1000 Kilometers. Luca Moro achieved a splendid fifth place in his qualifying group while Wolfgang Kaufmann held pole position in his group until shortly before the end:

Just before the end of the session, I was a bit overzealous going into the NGK chicane, this caused me to spin and I lost my chance to put in another quick time. As nice as a place on row 1 of the grid is, racers always want to be all the way in front."

At the start of the firsr race, the car with Luca Moro at the wheel sustained damage to its diffusor, the team could no longer match its qualifying speed. The ill-handling car was fast enough for seventh place: "The many fast and mid-tempo corners on the Nürburgring require plenty of aerodynamic grip. With the damaged rear diffusor, that was not there anymore so we had to back in so many sections of the track", Kaufmann had to resign himself to the result.

The second race on Sunday morning saw Kaufmann/Moro finish the weekend on an upward trend, with fifth place: "Sadly we were called in for a drive through penalty after Luca crossed the white line on his way out of the pits. We would definitely have been in contention for a podium spot."

As fifth race in August, an outing with the LMP1 prototype of Scuderia Lavaggi in the Le Mans Series 1000km race on the 'Ring was on the schedule: "Even though the team has next to no budget, they have significantly improved the rear aero. During the course of the three practice sessions, we have fine tuned the setup and found improvement."

However, the enthusiasm and dedication of this small team was not rewarded: an oil leak in the first hour of the race prevented them from reaching a valid result. "Still, you have to admire the effort Giovanni Lavaggi is making. While factory teams come and go on a whim, he keeps putting his limited resources into the project to stay involved in the series", Wolfgang Kaufmann sums up the situation.