Hockenheim (Germany), Achel (Belgium), 25 April 2022 – Under perfect conditions 21 FFR-FOR drivers and 3 guests from the HRA kicked off the 2022 season with two races on the famous Hockenheimring. The field saw several new drivers joining the FFR-FOR, as well as a welcome return of some old hands.
In race 1 the Formula Opels from Marvin Brandl (DEU) and Bernd Suckow (DEU) dominated the field, with the FF Zetec from Pascal Monbaron (SUI) and the Formula Opel from Georges Tomsen (BEL) hot on their heels. The four cars slowly pulled away from the rest of the field, until a suspension problem forced Monbaron to abandon the chase. Falling back, he just managed to cross the line half a second before the second Zetec, driven by Henry Clausnitzer, with Rookie Julian Labitzke (DEU) finishing third. The FF 2000 class was fiercely contested, but ultimately saw Andreas Menzner (DEU) take the lead and cross the line before Onno Zuidema (NED) and Henk van der Spoel (NED). In the FF 1600 class Dieter Häckel (DEU) won first place, initially closely contested by Roel Mulder (NED), even though the latter’s car is a decade older. Third place in the FF 1600 class was taken by Tim Roser (DEU).
For the second race on Saturday a few cars were missing due to technical problems. That didn’t mean it was any less interesting, even though in the end the same winners made it to the podium. After admiring ‘his’ race cars on the track earlier, the trophies were handed at the award ceremony by Peter Hass, who in his former role as chief of Opel Motorsport was involved in the founding of the Formula Opel race class.
One of the new FFR-FOR drivers this weekend was Wichard Theunissen from the Netherlands. He recently switched to a Van Diemen RF82 (FF 2000), after having raced classic touring cars for a number of years. ‘I dropped out in the third lap of race 2 due to a technical problem, but I nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed the experience,’ Wichard said. ‘The FFR-FOR drivers are very competitive on the track, but on the paddock they and the series organizers have been very helpful. For me personally there is still a lot of untapped potential and I look forward to join more racing weekends.’
For the next event the FFR-FOR will move to France, for the Historic Tour Dijon, on 6, 7 and 8 May.