Gemballa wins the Sport-Auto /
Yokohama Tuner Grand Prix 2004

On may 29th, a gathering took place on the Hockenheim Race track amongst the who's who of the tuning world to participate in the 12th Sport-Auto / Yokohama Tuner Grand Prix. More then 60 well known Tuners battled it out with their high horse powered street race cars to gain the crown as fastest tuner. From Leonberg; the Porsche specialist Gemballa emerged as the victor of the highly coveted GT and SUV classes.

In front of 20,000 spectators, Gemballa secured a victory in the GT class with his GTR 650 EVO. Wolfgang Kaufmann, who drove last year's Gemballa GTR 600 EVO to a record breaking victory, has been a long time impressive driver in the Gemballa Team. This year was no exception as he secured the fastest lap on the asphalt.

With a breathtaking time of 1.08.862 minute, Wolfgang nudged Frank Schmickler's Tech Art GT street into 2nd place. Wolfgang's lightening fast time placed almost one second between the Gemballa and its strongest adversary. A clear and decisive victory for team Gemballa. There was more to come. In the open class, Kaufmann showed the crowd yet another high speed spectacle. He set off from the starting grid with the Gemballa GTR EVO to exemplify the best of Motorsport with a breath taking lap time of 1.07.633 securing his fastest track time. This track time tops last year's best time by 0.354 seconds. This time impressively placed him in second place behind a Donkervoort; weighing 700 kilos less.

Bruno Eichmann, in his Gemballa Cayenne GT600, gave the Gemballa camp yet another reason to celebrate. Bruno drove the 620 HP luxury SUV to a first place victory with a stunning time of 1.19.195 minutes, distancing himself from the rest of the pack by 1.8 seconds. This was a clear; double victory for the Leonberg tuner.

Last but not least, the Gemballa Roadster GTR 3.6 stood out in the Cabrio category. Bruno Eichmann raced the 345 HP luxury roadster to a record speed of 1.16.616 minutes at the legendary race track, even though the car's radiator sustained damage from a mild collision with a loose obstacle on the Sachs corner. A podium finish was narrowly missed by 0.228 seconds. Earlier, Eichmann had completed a 1.14 practice run.

The results were outstanding, proving that Gemballa's engineering and tuning efforts paid off.

Overall, Gemballa's results set an unprecedented string of victories with 2 first places and 2 second places in the 12th Sport-Auto / Yokohama Tuner Grand prix. This victory stands as the most significant in the event's entire history. Uwe Gemballa and his team are very proud of these results, especially when considering the remarkable company they keep in the Tuning industry.

HEINZ MEIS , GEMBALLA NORTH AMERICA