This year's European Capital of Culture, the Danish city of Aarhus, hosted the "Classic Race Aarhus" for the eighth time in a row on May 20 and 21, 2017.
A special mix of action and conviviality, sport and history, entertainment and culture - that's what the local organizer calls the popular event.
In the middle of the city
With over 300 racing vehicles, spread across various racing series, this event in the "Mindenparken" park in the middle of the city is a street race of the very best kind. And in 2017, at the invitation of the organizer, the German "Battle of the Dwarves"!
Almost 30 riders from Germany found their way to the far north and met several Danish and some English guest starters.
Improving weather
The dwarves started their training session on a cool Saturday morning. When it started to rain around midday, the riders were already preparing for a rain race or wet track conditions. However, Peter was kind to them and the track was dry in time for the start of the first race (Heat 1).
Christoph Wilde was unlucky in his Simca Rallye. After setting an excellent best time in practice, he and Frank Schmelter in his NSU had their times canceled. Both had overtaken under yellow flags in practice.
From the back almost to the front
Wilde started the race from the back of the grid. Despite the tight conditions on the street circuit, he initially had to contend with cooling problems. Despite the very limited overtaking opportunities, he was already in 7th place after the first lap. After further nice and fair duels, he was finally able to finish the race in 2nd place.
Only Thomas Berg crossed the finish line ahead of him in the Mini. Detlev "Faxe" Wassong, who was leading at the start despite a collision at the start, had to park his Mini with engine damage.
Paul Thomson, a guest starter from the English Midia series, completed the podium in third place in the first race.
With a lap time of 1.26 minutes, Paul Thomson also drove the fastest race lap of the dwarves this weekend. With this time, he could easily have finished in the top ten in some other, more powerful racing series.
Guest starters at the front
The second race took place on Sunday, as on the previous day, in front of full grandstands. 42,500 spectators had found their way to the European Capital of Culture.
After a fair race, the Englishman Paul Thomson was able to celebrate his victory. He had overtaken Thomas Berg and Christoph Wilde, who started ahead of him, in the turmoil at the start and then dominated the field from the front.
The battle group of the day was Weißenborn/Nagl/Schmelter, who chased each other around the course for laps with constant changes of position with minimal gaps. It should be noted that the three were driving completely different vehicles, namely a Fiat-Abarth 1000 TC, a Lada 2101 and an NSU TT.
The gap between Michael Weißenborn and Hubert Nagl at the finish was just six hundredths of a second. However, Stefan Schmelter had to let it slip in the final lap due to lapping.
Distance king
Fifth-placed Hubert Nagl, together with Josef Schichl, also had the longest journey this weekend. The two racing enthusiasts from southern Germany covered a distance of 2400 km just to take part in this unique event in Denmark.
Exotic cars between the crash barriers
The Aarhus circuit was a little reminiscent of Monte Carlo with its narrow roads, slow chicanes and ever-close crash barriers.
In addition to the often-circulated dwarves, two Lada 2101s, a Sunbeam Imp, a Honda N600 and a Mini Marcos also ventured into battle and added a splash of color to the races in Aarhus.
We summarize more about the dwarves in our theme channel Battle of the Dwarves .
