Stefan Langer Masters the Blue Skies to Claim Race 3 Victory and Overall Lead at Farrenberg
12/08/2026 - Farrenberg, Germany - Today, the skies over Farrenberg presented a difficult 259-kilometer tactical puzzle for the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix of Germany. With no cumulus clouds to mark the lift, the grid faced an "invisible track," forcing pilots to rely entirely on terrain reading and extreme energy preservation. Overcoming the empty blue air, Stefan Langer (SF) delivered a masterclass in tactical discipline to claim the race win and seize the overall championship lead.
The Invisible Track: Weather and Task Overview
Without the visual markers of cumulus clouds, pilots were flying blind. While the western side of the track near the first turnpoint at Oefingen offered a workable ceiling, the energy collapsed as the fleet pushed deep east toward Amstetten.
Average thermal strengths across the field hovered between a weak 1.6 to 1.9 m/s, making it a day where reading the ground correctly mattered far more than raw glider performance. Push too hard in the dying eastern air, and pilots risked falling out of the sky; fly too conservatively in the west, and they would simply run out of time.
Despite these punishing conditions, nineteen of the twenty starters successfully completed the AP2 task.
The Race Breakdown: A Masterclass in Efficiency
The 259-kilometer route pulled the fleet southwest to Oefingen before dragging them east through Riedlingen and Amstetten, followed by a final glide through Gammertingen and the Heufeld reporting point.
Stefan Langer (SF) won the day in his AS33 with a total time of 02:30:27, averaging 103.2 km/h. The race was effectively decided during the sprint across legs five and six:
The speed spread on leg five (Gammertingen to Heufeld) reached a massive 74.9 km/h, the widest of any leg.
Langer posted a fast 205.8 km/h on this stretch, arriving at the penultimate gate with enough preserved altitude to convert his height into raw speed while others were still forced to work for lift.
His thermal discipline was unmatched: he spent only 37% of his flight time circling, the lowest thermaling percentage in the top five, across 26 climbs that averaged 1.7 m/s.
He perfectly calculated his final glide, crossing the finish band at 1,046 metres, a mere 46 metres above the minimum altitude requirement.
Race 3 Podium and Notable Performances
While Langer executed a perfectly timed escape, the battle for the remaining podium spots remained incredibly tight.
2nd Place - Björn Gintzel (M): Piloting a Diana 4, Gintzel finished just 1 minute and 3 seconds behind Langer. He circled 32 times, six more than Langer, and posted a leg-five speed of 174.4 km/h, which is exactly where the time deficit was created. He took a different path and a weaker energy line which cost him the Race Win.
3rd Place - Peter Millenaar (MM): Securing third in his JS3-JET-18m, Millenaar finished only 14 seconds behind Gintzel. He nearly matched Langer's pace on leg five with 205.1 km/h but surrendered a fraction of time on the final run to Farrenberg, posting 195.5 km/h against Langer's 211.1 km/h.
4th Place - Dirk Windmüller (FUN): Windmüller actually clocked the fastest leg-five of the entire field at 209.8 km/h in his AS 33ES/18m. However, a slower leg six (187.8 km/h) meant he could not sustain the pressure for a podium finish.
5th Place - Conrad Hartter (OT): The Race 2 winner rounded out the top five in his JS-1, finishing 1 minute and 50 seconds off the lead.
DNF - Kai Lindenberg (MX): Lindenberg was the sole pilot unable to complete the task. After taking the lead before TP1, he found himself low and had to start his engine, meaning he had to abandon the race. He landed back safely in Farrenberg.
Championship Update
With today's 10-point haul, Stefan Langer has catapulted himself to the top of the general classification, setting the new benchmark at 20 total points. Surviving the decaying, invisible thermals required more than just patience, it required a perfectly timed strike. Langer has set the standard, and the target is now firmly on his back as we look forward to the next round of racing.
