2021-03-04-07 IDC Racing Nürburgring – Win, podium and good results
On the 3rd and 4th of July it was time for race 4 and 5 of the International Dutch Championship, this time on the F1 circuit of the Nürburgring. Mark van Bunnik (Fastmarky#77), Greg Barnes (Gin-Tonic#67) and Jan Houbraken (The Chaser#35) took part in these races for Docshop Racing in the Proclass600. It had been a long time since the riders had ridden here, Jan Houbraken was even there for the first time, so we had to wait and see how the team would perform compared to the competition.
Free practice started again on Friday and on Saturday there were 2 qualifying sessions and a race. During qualifying, Mark and Greg could be found in the front and Jan also knew how to find his lines on the track. This resulted in places 27, 28 and 38 in the combined starting grid of the Dutch Supersport/Dutch Proclass 600 and P4 (Mark), P5 (Greg) and P12 (Jan) in the Dutch Proclass 600.
Greg Barnes had another good start and was able to work his way up through the field. On the last lap he was able to take the lead and won the race in the Proclass600 by a small margin. Mark van Bunnik was a few bike lengths behind Greg on the first lap, but couldn’t keep up with him. In the last 3 laps he got into a fierce fight for position 3, but unfortunately had to settle for P4. Jan Houbraken had a good start and did his best to move forward. Unfortunately, he was held up for several laps by another rider who was difficult to pass and he finished in 11th place (These results are without the guest rider with nr. 13, who did not receive championship points and did not go on the podium) .
The 2nd race was scheduled for Sunday early afternoon. Greg Barnes and Mark van Bunnik were both well away from their positions and swapped positions on the first lap. However, Greg was able to work his way up to the front and was ready to take the lead again. Unfortunately the race was ended prematurely with a red flag and this time he had to settle for P2. Mark van Bunnik couldn’t get into his rhythm of the 1st race and finished in P6. Due to the changeable weather conditions, Jan Houbraken wanted to play it safe and fitted his rain tires half an hour before the race. Unfortunately it stayed dry except for a few drops of rain in the warm-up lap. He had a difficult race and finished in P17 (These results are without the guest driver with row No. 13, he did not receive any championship points and did not go on the podium).