Nürburg. The Rundstrecken-Challenge Nürburgring is considered Germany’s oldest series for touring car motorsport. On August 20, 2022, Bulldog Racing started the second half of the RCN season in the RS3A class with the #597 MINI John Cooper Works known from the 24-hour race. The starting field consisted of more than 170 teams, with 16 cars competing in the highly competitive RS3A class.

The new driver pairing of Friedhelm Thelen / Alexander Schabbach tackled the 15-lap distance on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife and, despite a flat tire on the 12th lap and a resulting time loss of about 10 minutes, classified in the RS3A class.

In the overall standings, the MINI John Cooper Works finished 89th out of 160 cars that started and 125 that were classified, setting a best lap time of 8:26 minutes.

Bulldog Racing Team Principal Friedhelm Thelen: “The MINI John Cooper Works has once again proven its reliability. The puncture is extremely annoying and cost us a very good position.”

Bulldog Racing Managing Director Alexander Schabbach: “For me it was my first race in the MINI John Cooper Works. At the 24 hour race we were an exotic, so it was nice to see three other MINIs on the race track today.”

The next outing for Bulldog Racing’s MINI John Cooper Works will be on September 3rd as part of the fifth RCN race at the Nürburgring.