Credits to ThreeWide.de for the original reporting of this.
On 12 September, ThreeWide.de releases a press release article that reveals that Marko Stipp Motorsport and Dexwet-DF1 Racing will be working together to field the No. 22 Chevrolet Camaro for German-Greek VLN owner-driver Ioannis Smyrlis for next week’s American Fan Fest at Hockenheim.
Under this partnership deal, Marko Stipp Motorsport will be bringing the car and the team members, while Dexwet-DF1 will be giving MSM the access to have Smyrlis – who ThreeWide.de reports to be having a contract with Dexwet-DF1 – drive the car for Hockenheim.
Both Marko Stipp Motorsport and Dexwet-DF1 Racing will also continue to field their usual cars for Hockenheim: MSM with the No. 46 Chevrolet Camaro for Andre Castro, Dexwet-DF1 with the No. 66 Chevrolet Camaro for Guillaume Deflandre and Lasse Sørensen and the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro for Ellen Lohr and Justin Kunz.
Norbert Walchhofer, the Head of Motorsport of Dexwet-DF1 Racing, states in the press release that the decision to form a partnership with Marko Stipp Motorsport to field the No. 22 Camaro is because of Dexwet-DF1 being unable to field an extra car due to the massive start-line crash at Valencia involving Ellen Lohr and Mauro Trione that wrote off the team’s initial No. 99 chassis. The crash itself forces the No. 99 team to use a backup chassis for the rest of the season.
“Since the big crash at Valencia, we have a destroyed car in our shop.” said Walchhofer in the press release. “We will rebuild this car during winter. We have several drivers under contract and we want to offer them a competitive car. We trust Marko Stipp and his team to provide such a car with our help.”
The partnership will mean that Marko Stipp Motorsport will field two cars for the first time in the team’s history, and the first in the team’s lineage history since the season opening round at Valencia, where Racing-Total – MSM’s previous identity – fielded the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Julio Carayol Casas and Jennifer Jo Cobb and the No. 46 Ford Mustang for Ant Whorton-Eales and Shaun Hollamby.
“We thank DF1 racing for trusting in our skills and cars.” said Marko Stipp, owner of MSM, in the press release. “We proved to be able to be at the front of the NWES in the past. We and our friends from Austria will give our best to give Ioannis a strong car.”
Ioannis Smyrlis, the Hanau-born Greek driver, is the team owner of Smyrlis Racing, a racing team that currently competes in the DMV BMW 318ti Cup and also competes as a driver in VLN for the last few years. Ioannis scored a class win in the 2018 24 Hours of Nürburgring in the V5 Class, driving the No. 144 Pixum Team Adrenalin Motorsport Porsche Cayman alongside Spanish driver Carlos Arimon and German drivers Christian Büllesbach and Andreas Schettler.
“I’m looking forward to race a NASCAR Whelen Euro Series car without any electric driving aids.” said Smyrlis, who will be driving in both classes for Hockenheim. “Those cars are not packed with unnecessary electronics. I want to have a competitive car and to drive along with the pack. My big dream is to beat former Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.“
The No. 22 team will become the second new entry for Hockenheim, after PK Carsport announced that they will field a third car for Dylan Derdaele and Pol van Pollaert at Hockenheim.
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of ThreeWide.de / Dexwet-DF1 Racing.