30 / 30
In the last two years you have
become the TCR ‘ringmeister’,
claiming eleven class victories in
the VLN series at the Nürburgring
Nordschleife with Mathilda Racing
cars: the Volkswagen Golf GTI in
2017 and the CUPRA TCR in 2018.
How did you join the team?
“That was quite curious. One evening I
got a call from Mathilda Racing’s boss
Michael Paatz, who asked me if I
wanted to drive for him. My first
thought was to refuse, because I held
my newly born daughter, also called
Mathilda, in my arms and actually
wanted to take a break from racing.
Then I heard about the name of the
racing team, Mathilda Racing, and I
thought: ‘If that's not a sign...’ I haven’t
regretted that decision and I have a
very good relationship with Michael.
He is a very inventive man who
always has developments and
improvements in mind. That's why we
have recently purchased two
simulators, which we use especially
for young drivers. It makes sense, as
we wish to develop a junior team for
the coming season.”
How did you develop this special
relationship with the Nordschleife
and how many laps do you think you
have completed?
“When I was a little boy, maybe 10 years
old, my father drove me around the
track, a few years later I had a ride in
the back seat with two racing instructors,
Christian Menzel
and Timo Kluck. It
was great fun!
Then in 2000 I
finally made my
racing debut with
the Zakspeed
Dodge Viper in the
VLN. An
unforgettable
moment! Now I’m
a driving instructor
myself and drive
race taxis, so I must have done more
than 10,000 laps there… In spite of my
experience I'm still scared before a race
until I see the weather forecast. We
generate our own weather forecast,
because you cannot trust others’
predictions. Maybe Jackie Stewart also
thought that the devil has his hands in
the weather when he named the track
the ‘Green Hell’. That's one of the points
that definitely cannot be calculated.
Suddenly there's a downpour, you have
just passed the pits and then you have
to race on slicks for twenty kilometres
through the wet forests… There are
places with no run-out zones and there’s
no room for mistakes. And you make
mistakes if you push too much. The
Nordschleife cannot be tamed. It's all
about finding a rhythm, a flow.”
Three questions to…
Andreas Gülden
Last year you raced the CUPRA TCR.
Is it a good choice for competing in
endurance races at the Nürburgring?
“Yes, absolutely. We know the car very
well and it’s very reliable. No wonder it’s
competitive, as it is something like the
original car of the whole TCR family. SEAT
Sport has a lot of experience and they
simply know how to build fast front-wheel-
drive cars. That goes back to the León MK
1, and that was 15 years ago! A lot of
progress has been done since and today
the TCR cars set faster lap times than
many GTs. The CUPRA is a car that ‘talks’
to the driver. It's a real racing car that
helps you to be both consistent and fast.”