Sunday’s race of the DTM Classic Cup at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium was supposed to be a real thriller. But let’s get things in a row.

With 1st place for Kris Nissen and 4th place for Yannik Trautwein, the weekend started very promising. However, Kris Nissen’s BMW M3 E30 DTM suffered an engine damage in the practice session, forcing the Dane to retire.

So it was Yannik Trautwein as the only Schnitzer Classic driver to enter the first qualifying session on Saturday morning. In still damp conditions, Yannik drove his BMW E36 STW to a clear pole position with a lead of 2.8 seconds. Due to the minutely changing weather conditions, the tire choice for the first race became a lottery. We went for used, harder rain tires. Unfortunately, the rain soon increased, so that Yannik did not have any chance to fight for the podium places. Nevertheless, Yannik could still save a good fifth place overall and the class victory to the finish.

After the difficulties in the race on Saturday, our team prepared the BMW E36 STW perfectly for the second qualifying, which was in wet conditions again. Yannik was able to secure another solid pole position ahead of Ronny Scheer in the 500+ hp Ford Sierra.

While the day started with rain, weather changed to bright sunshine for the afternoon race. When the lights switched to green, Ronny Scheer pushed into the lead, but Yannik countered already in the first corner. On the way to Eau Rouge the Ford Sierra passed the STW BMW again with its power surplus. A picture which should characterize the whole race. While Ronny Scheer used his top speed advantage on the long straights, Yannik used the handling advantages of the BMW Super Touring Car and countered always in the technical part of the track. The battle went right down to the last lap. In the end, it was Yannik who secured the win with a few meters to spare, thus also securing the team victory for Schnitzer Classic.