A Latvian Driver’s First Overall Win at the Nürburgring
Harald Schlegelmilch, driving for Artline Team Georgia, claimed his first absolute victory in Race 1 of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe at the Nürburgring on September 17, 2016. The Latvian set the tone for the entire weekend by posting a new qualifying record of 1’57″974, then converted pole position into a lead he never surrendered. Loris Spinelli of Antonelli Motorsport chased him relentlessly and finished second, but every overtaking attempt came up short against a driver whose car and confidence were perfectly matched.
The timing elevated the result beyond a single trophy. As the fifth of six double-header weekends in the European season, the Nürburgring round arrived at the point where championship positions begin to harden. Schlegelmilch’s victory, his second class win of the year following a result at Spa, thrust him back into the PRO title conversation at exactly the moment when consistency separates contenders from also-rans.
“This is my first overall win. I’m happy for the whole team which did an excellent job. It was not easy, because throughout the race I was put under pressure by Spinelli, who repeatedly tried to pass me. But my car was really perfect today and the proof of it are the two pole positions conquered during qualifying.”
Penalties Rewrite the Results Sheet
What spectators saw on track and what the official classification recorded were two different stories, and the gap between them carried real championship consequences.
Vito Postiglione of Imperiale Racing crossed the line in third, but a 30-second penalty for crossing the pit lane white line during his mandatory stop dropped him to seventh. Dennis Lind of Raton Racing committed the same infraction and fell from fourth to tenth. In a series where margins between rounds are often measured in single digits, a 30-second penalty for a white-line violation is the kind of operational error that costs championships, not just race positions. Postiglione, who entered the weekend as a title threat, left with a fraction of the points haul he expected.
Those penalties promoted Florian Spengler and Christopher Zöchling of Konrad Motorsport onto the PRO podium in third. Martin Kodric, the Croatian talent from Bonaldi Motorsport, endured an equally frustrating afternoon. A messy opening lap pushed him wide at Turn 1 and down to twelfth, and a subsequent ten-second penalty for ignoring yellow flags limited his recovery to sixth. That Kodric would go on to win Race 2 the following day only proved the pace was always present, even when Race 1’s circumstances conspired against him.
Class Winners and a Young Driver’s Debut to Remember
The most compelling subplot belonged to Bar Baruch. The Israeli driver, part of the Lamborghini Squadra Corse Young Driver Program, won the PRO-AM class on his debut, sharing the Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Huracán Super Trofeo with Kei Francesco Cozzolino. Baruch finished third overall, a result that would be impressive for a seasoned competitor and borders on remarkable for a first outing.
“I immediately got in tune with my teammate Cozzolino, who did a good job, by enabling me to score this victory. Even if I didn’t know this track, I did all my best.”
Rik Breukers of GDL Racing took second in PRO-AM, while championship leaders Patrick Kujala and Adrian Amstutz of Bonaldi Motorsport could only manage fifth after being forced to start from the back of the grid. They retained their points lead over Breukers, but the gap narrowed, adding another thread of tension heading into the season’s final rounds.
In the AM class, Amir Krenzia claimed his first career victory for Vincenzo Sospiri Racing. The Lamborghini Cup saw a clean sweep by Van der Horst Motorsport, with William Van Deyzen winning ahead of teammate Gerard Van der Horst. Van Deyzen noted the result carried championship weight, as rival Tim Richards finished further down the order.
The Super Trofeo as Lamborghini’s Talent Pipeline
Baruch’s debut win illustrates precisely why the Super Trofeo matters beyond its own championship standings. Lamborghini’s Squadra Corse division established the series in 2009 as its first one-make racing championship, and it grew into three continental series spanning Europe, North America, and Asia, with an annual World Final bringing regional champions together. The grid splits into PRO, PRO-AM, AM, and Lamborghini Cup classes, creating a ladder where gentleman drivers race alongside professionals and factory-supported young talent on the same circuit, in identical machinery.
That structure is deliberate. For Squadra Corse, the Super Trofeo functions as a proving ground where it can evaluate drivers under genuine competitive pressure before promoting them to GT3 programs. The series began with the Gallardo LP560-4 Super Trofeo and transitioned to the Huracán platform, and the progression from one-make racing to factory-supported GT3 efforts represents the clearest career path Lamborghini offers aspiring professional drivers.
Blancpain’s title sponsorship brought an unusual personal touch to the series. The Swiss watchmaker’s CEO, Marc Hayek, drove in the inaugural 2009 season, a detail that says something about the intimacy of the championship’s early years and the kind of enthusiast commitment the series was built to attract.
What This Means for the Championship’s Final Act
With one double-header remaining after the Nürburgring, the PRO championship fight remained genuinely open. Schlegelmilch’s twin poles and overall victory made his case emphatically, but the penalties that reshuffled the top ten meant no single driver could feel secure. Across every class, from PRO-AM to the Lamborghini Cup, the margins tightened rather than widened, ensuring the final round would carry real stakes.
Lamborghini confirmed Race 2 was set for the following morning. Kodric’s subsequent victory in that race only reinforced how volatile the weekend’s fortunes were, and how deep the competitive field ran in 2016. For anyone watching the Super Trofeo as a barometer of Lamborghini’s racing ecosystem, the Nürburgring weekend delivered a clear message: operational discipline matters as much as raw pace, and the series rewards the drivers and teams who master both.
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