The spirit at Tannberg Motorsport was very euphoric when the news spread that the overall time standings were being led by the Gladius.
Expectations for the car were high, the company put a lot of money and effort into this, but technical troubles and handling issues kept the project on the edge up to the last days before the start.
Seeing it performing so well, even under these circumstances, makes up for a great relief at the whole Motorsport department.
Stakes are high for the Gladius. With the prototype being presented to the public last year, it would be more than welcome for it to gain some racing successes before the roadgoing version of the car is
launched. There is no better marketing for a sports car than an actual racing history.
The Corso di Fruina is not only the deput for the Gladius, but aswell for its newly developed racing engine, which is planned to be used in different setups and displacements over the coming years.
Despite the euphoria, there is not a minute of rest and celebration before the race is over. The car is well taken care of, expendable parts, fluids and tires are replaced, minor damages repaired.
A breakdown would be fatal so no chances are taken. Hausmann and Schmied are advised to drive carefully and bring the car over the finish line, not pushing it unnecessarily hard and risking an accident since
overall time victory can be achieved with a solid run.
The Apollon performs quite as expected. Of course it cannot compete with any performance and handlingwise superior sports and race cars, but for a stock, cheap family car it does perform reasonable.
However on the last stage it took some serious beating. The mechanics currently discuss if a body swap would be worth wile. There is a donor body available and the ladderframe makes this a not too difficult piece of work.
We shall see about that…
