As part of this year's Historic GP in Most in the neighboring Czech Republic, the "Battle of the Dwarves" encountered uncharted territory.
As guests of the Historische Automobil Interessengemeinschaft OST, HAIGO for short, 27 participants from the ranks of the dwarves started together with 17 touring car friends from HAIGO.
Once again, the dwarves formed the largest starting field of the event on a race weekend.
The highlight of the event was the European Nascar, in which former F1 world champion Jaques Villeneuve also competed. However, these circumstances did not make any of the midget drivers nervous. They were far too focused on their own race weekend and the winding and varied course, which was new territory for almost all participants. Only Michael Weissenborn with his Lada and Andreas Vielgut in an NSU had raced here in the past.
The largest contingent of vehicles in the "Battle of the Dwarves" was made up by the NSU TT Trophy division, which also provided the pole setter, Andreas Vielgut, on Saturday morning after qualifying for the first race. He was able to use his existing knowledge of the track and set a much-noticed time under the magic 2-minute limit.
In contrast to the "Battle of the Dwarves" races, the HAIGO holds a separate training session for each race on a weekend, with the starting grid based on this. Gregor Nick secured pole position on the Mini in practice on Sunday for the second race.
But back to the first race of the weekend. Andreas Vielgut started from pole position in his NSU, followed by Gregor Nick and Thomas Berg in their small English Mini.
Gregor Nick, who overslept the start and dropped back to 7th place, fought his way back to the front as the race progressed. However, the lead was dominated by the duel between Vielgut and Berg. Lap-long battles for position at the front were a treat for all spectators present.
An accident involving one of the HAIGO participants led to a safety car phase in the first race. After the restart, it was ultimately Thomas Berg who won the race, as Andreas Vielgut retired due to a technical defect. Second place went to Gregor Nick, who rushed up from behind, ahead of the first HAIGO participant Dieter Hoffmann. Herbert Wein sr, also a Mini, was also able to celebrate in 3rd place in the Dwarf category.
As already mentioned, Sunday began with practice for the second race. Gregor Nick dominated here with his Mini, setting by far the fastest time of the weekend with a 1.568 min. The NSU cars of Vielgut, Schneider and Schroer took 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in practice.
The race was a Gregor Nick affair at the front. He was unstoppable. Only a safety car phase due to an NSU rolling out on the back straight brought the field back together.
Nick won ahead of the previous day's winner Thomas Berg, both on Mini, followed by Andreas Vielgut at a respectful distance.
The battle of the day, however, was for 4th place overall. Here it was Alex Schneider and Karl Schroer, both on NSU, who fought a fabulous duel throughout the race.
In the end, it was Karl Schroer who crossed the finish line in 4th place, half a car length ahead of Alex Schneider.
All the drivers who took part in Most agree. Races on this track can be repeated with participants in the "Battle of the Dwarves". It was a great event with super organization on a beautiful and scenic race track.
