Frank Hoffmann, team leader and Wunderlich managing director, managed to engage the road racer Thilo Günther (#10) and one of the top EWC endurance racer Lucy Glöckner (#12) for the Hill Climb at Pikes Peak in the west of the USA.
The “Race to the Clouds” held at Pikes Peak on Sunday was again very close indeed. Wunderlich MOTORSPORT used two BMW S 1000 R, which were technically perfectly prepared, to chase down the factory-backed teams.
The two riders were able to take fantastic fourth and fifth places in the Heavyweight Motorcycle Class behind KTM’s and Ducati’s factory-backed teams, clocking times of 10:16.637 (Thilo Günther, number 10) and 10:21.932 (Lucy Glöckner, number 12).
Wunderlich MOTORSPORT therefore ranked fifth and sixth among all motorcycles. Overall (taking racing cars and motorcycles into account), Thilo and Lucy rank 21st and 23rd respectively in a first-class starter field made up of 73 starters.
The team managed to gradually improve in terms of both performance and times during the training sessions by fine-tuning the engine and chassis of the BMW S 1000 R, thus enabling them to achieve this success.
They therefore provided more than ample proof of the Sinzig-based riding team’s outstanding performance capability. The Wunderlich MOTORSPORT team received support from the ProKASRO racing team, which plays an active role in the Endurance World Championships (EWC)! Thilo Günther managed to shorten the gap to winner Carlin Dunn, who is basically at home on Pikes Peak, to just 17 s on the track, which measures 20 km long and is situated at an altitude of 4,300 m!
Lucy, who was a rookie when it came to this legendary race – where riders can’t afford to make mistakes and there are no run-out zones, just the abyss – deserves special recognition for her performance, as she took to it like a duck to water. Respect!
Following on from Thilo taking fifth place in the Heavyweight Class (tenth place among all motorcycles) last year on a high-torque BMW R 1200 R LC prepared by Wunderlich MOTORSPORT, we have now taken another key step in the right direction with the far more powerful BMW S 1000 R which Wunderlich prepared.
Wunderlich MOTORSPORT would like to offer its sincere congratulations to its colleagues at VW Motorsport for their sensational win with their electric Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak, driven by Romain Dumas! The Wolfsburg-based team set a stunning new record, clocking a finish time of 7:57.148 and thereby shaving 16 s off the previous record.
Weblinks:
www.wunderlich.de/en/
www.wunderlich-motorsport.com
http://ppihc.org/