8.09.10 Difficult weekend for Wolfgang Kaufmann

Wolfgang Kaufmann and the Vulkan Racing Mintgen Motorsport Dodge Viper were among the starters in last weekend's ADAC GT Masters races at the Nürburgring.

Michael Mintgen & Wolfgang Kaufmann

Vulkan Racing Dodge Viper

Wolfgang Kaufmann being interviewed by Lina Van de Mars

Wolfgang Kaufmann

The man from Molsberg returned to the track where he celebrated the very first ADAC GT Masters victory in 2007 with ARGO Racing Lamborghini Gallardo.

Kaufmann has raced this year already for the Vulkan Racing Mintgen Motorsport team, in the 24h on the Nordschleife. From the beginning, his team mate Christopher Brück and he knew that the task ahead would be difficult: „Especially Audi and Porsche have raised the bar in terms of technical development. And the teams also operate on a very high level now.“

And the Viper was carrying a heavy load; with a dry weight of 1.420 kilograms, it was by far the heaviest vehicle in this „league of super sportscars“.

„With this high weight, we were experiencing enormous problems with the brakes and the tyres; now we need to get a handle on these before the ADAC GT Masters finale at Oschersleben“, Kaufmann explains the difficulties of the weekend. Until the next round of the series, the team are hoping for some leniency from the FIA: „Considering the fact that the current GT3 cars such as the Audis and Porsches are running with a lot less weight than our Viper which has been updated but in essence is still a 2006 car, there has to be some room for adjustment there.“

Still, the Viper war within the points scoring positions in both races. On Saturday, Kaufmann/Brück secured the first championship point for the Vulkan Racing Mintgen Motorsport team. On Sunday, they were again on target for points until suspension problems brought their run to an early end.

„On the whole, this was a good weekend for us. We were at least able to hold our own against a number of DTM teams and strong privateer teams with significant ADAC GT Masters experience, even though the Balance of Performance is not in our favour right now. So my thanks have to go especially to my team that in spite of all this have prepared a car that was capable of a Top 10 finish.

Our goal for the final round at Oschersleben is still a Top 5 result, and we want to be in touch with the podium finishers.“