A battle ensued today on the harsh roads of the Nordschleife between Siegfried Happe and Guy Don – at Lap 4, we saw a horrible crash, that left us shocked about the two drivers – It’s absolutely crazy, that both cars could continue! But first let’s talk about the start.

Safe and sound – The start

The ballot put Siegfried Happes Bugatti T51A, sponsored by Feldmühle, in the back of the grid (row 8) which made it easier for Happe approaching the start of the race. Once the cars got on their way, Happe took it calm and easy, analyzing any turn to make a good first lap. The Nordschleife is a tough track and so Happe took every precaution going into the first turns. After Hatzenbach on the way to Flugplatz, some spectators saw Stewart McGonagall spinning, while Happe was quickly approaching – going of the throttle and braking slightly, Happe tried squeezing through the wrecking McGonagall, avoiding desaster, but his focus was on the spinning car, rather then the position of his own. Hitting the left side kerb, Happes Bugatti started spinning itself, stalling in the process. Without damage, Happe could continue the race – now 30 seconds behind the next driver.

After that, things just went right for Happe – Vuk unfortunately missed a turn, giving Happe P6 – seconds later – Cisneros drops into the pits, giving him 5th. Scarperia was plagued with issues aswell during the race – going from P2 to P6 – Happe in P4 started to the light of the tunnel – the driver 30 seconds in front was Guy Don – a familiar face, that Happe already faced at Sitges. 3rd place wasn’t too far away.

The infamous Lap 4 – and everything before

While lap 2 proofed to be the catch-up lap for Siegfried Happe – Lap 3 was a fight for 3rd place and Don and Happe switched places twice.

While the ERA of Don is much faster on the straight – getting him in the corner was too much of a risk for Happe. By Lap 4, Happe wanted to make the move and right before the end of the straight (Döttinger Höhe), he put the pedal to the metal – reaching 190km/h into the start/finish straight – where ERA driver Guy Don was slowing down to the extreme, almost standing on the middle line, when Happe approached and couldn’t move out of the danger zone. The hit was direct – both cars started spinning, but the wheels seemed okay. Happes radiator probably got the bad end of the stick, while Dons car didn’t really catch up until the end of the race from that point on.

After that, the car of Happe, as he said, never felt right until the end. Still – Lap 5 marked a new fastest lap for him doing a 11:35.331. Leaving Don 30 seconds in the back, Happe held the car stable until the end to not run into further problems. Everyone in front of him (Carlevaro and Hofschläger) were very far ahead so there wasn’t any point in pushing the car to the limit. With a total race time of 01:22:58.079, Happe reached the chequered flag, securing P3, which marks his second consecutive podium in the gentlemens driver season. He now has a bit of breathing room on the top of the standing.