He also earned a podium finish in the first race, taking second place at the same venue. Kaufmann is starting this major annual event for historic motorsport with great enthusiasm, alongside numerous Formula 1 legends from previous decades who take to the wheels of historic Formula 1 cars. "This is a first-class, top-notch racing event," praised the driver from the Westerwald region. "There was an incredible atmosphere in front of a gigantic crowd of over 100,000 visitors, including countless young racing fans, significantly younger than most of the cars on the starting grid. The paddock and starting grids were absolutely packed, and the racing sound during qualifying and the race was top-notch."
In qualifying, Wolfgang Kaufmann secured third place (2:06.879) in his 1978 ex-Stephen South March 782-BMW, behind the British drivers James Lay in the March 762 (2:06.217 minutes) and Brian Morris in the March 782 (2:06.735). "I only drove a few laps to save the tires for the crucial races," Kaufmann explained. "Unfortunately, as always, there was no standing start, but a rolling start." After the start of race one, he immediately took second place and remained within striking distance of the leader, James Lay. Then a competitor spun, the car was awkwardly positioned on the track, and so the first race was red-flagged after just six laps. "Unfortunately, no safety car was deployed," Wolfgang Kaufmann lamented, "I suspect primarily due to the extremely tight overall schedule." Lay won by five seconds ahead of Kaufmann and 6.3 seconds ahead of Brian Morris.
The finishing order in race one determined the starting grid for race two, allowing Kaufmann to start from the front row. "I grabbed the lead right away in the first lap and extended it," the Westerwald native described his perspective from the cockpit. "Unfortunately, I was held up a bit while lapping other cars in the final laps, which allowed James Lay to close the gap. He attacked in the last three corners, trying everything he could to win. Unfortunately, he ran into my right rear wheel on the final corner. I had to take a wider route through the run-off area, but I kept my foot on the gas...and won by a tenth of a second!
It was an amazing race, and the fans were absolutely ecstatic."