Roland Asch - in pole position without the ignition key (from the Retro Classics in Stuttgart)
03/04/2017
Roland Asch always has an incredible story to tell, including his start in the Porsche Cup race in Kyalami in 1989:
In the sweltering heat of South Africa in 1989, the field of the "Porsche Turbo World Cup" is ready for the suburb. All the drivers are buckled up and fully concentrated in the car. Only the man in pole position is struggling with an unusual problem. He can't start his car, the ignition key is missing!
So Roland Asch jumps out of the car again, aborts the pre-start and searches excitedly for the key. Finally, he finds it in the lock of the tailgate because the tailgate was opened during the preparations for the start in order to ventilate the interior.
The starting procedure is then repeated without the Swabian being penalized and Roland Asch takes the coveted race win despite the mishap.
Asch also won the German Cup three times with the 944 Turbo in 1987, 88 and 89.
One of the Cup cars, together with other interesting racing cars from the 67-year-old racing driver's history, can currently be admired at the Retro-Classic in Stuttgart. Roland laughs: "There's a good story about each of these cars! By the way, after Kyalami, I only drove all the races with a spare key in the ashtray."
We will, of course, be publishing a comprehensive report on the show soon.
