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12 January 2002: Start-up event
As Heinz-Harald Frentzen was very busy in December 2001 with his contract negotiations, the 2001 end-of-season celebration of the Heinz-Harald Frentzen Club had to be postponed to January 2002. Instead of a Christmas party, the club organised a start-up season opening event. Already for the fourth time, club members met at the Heinz-Harald-Frentzen Rennsportcenter in Groß Zimmern/Germany to contest the HHF-Challenge. Each competitor fought for the best lap time on a 450-metre kart racing track on three floors with uphill, downhill and tunnel sections.
After the last driver had passed the finishing line, people swapped locations. This year’s event for 300 guests of the Heinz-Harald Frentzen Club which has 600 registered members so far has been organized in a cycling and blading hall close to the Heinz-Harald Frentzen Center in Groß-Zimmern/Germany. Our presenter Andreas Richter welcomed the audience and opened the appetizing buffet.
At 13.00 hours, Heinz-Harald Frentzen eventually arrived. His fans and club members gave him a warm welcome, applauding his advent. It was an unforgettable experience for the fan to be so close to their idol in such a friendly atmosphere. After a short welcoming speech, Heinz-Harald went to each table together with his club boss René Sauerwein, signing autographs and photos and answering questions. Many fans wanted their art prints, photos, shirts and caps being signed by their idol.
Afterwards, the official part of the event started. Andreas Richter interviewed Heinz-Harald. Last year’s F1 season which Heinz-Harald started with his EJ11 F1 car from Jordan Racing didn’t meet his expectations. Three times only, Heinz-Harald finished in the points. This was not very satisfactory compared to the 2000 season and Heinz-Harald’s expectations for 2001. Immediately before the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Heinz-Harald had a very direct and brief encounter with Eddie Jordan which resulted in Heinz-Harald being released short-handedly from his Jordan contract, missing the subsequent German Grand Prix. This was a huge shock to each of Heinz-Harald’s fans. This difficult period for Heinz-Harald and his fans who continued to give him strong support during the German Grand Prix has been discussed in detail. Of course, the interview also covered the period at French outfit “Prost” that started for Heinz-Harald in August.
As Heinz-Harald is still in negotiations with regard to the 2002 season, he obviously didn’t want to release any details. His is still talking to teams and his future remains open. Afterwards, the regional Fan representatives of the Heinz-Harald Frentzen Club have been honoured for their solid work: Lissy Weyer for the Düsseldorf region, Judith-Eva Flath for the Groß-Zimmern region, Jennifer Müller for the Ehringshausen region, Sabine Runk for the Elsendorf region, Arno Paul for the Freising region, Thomas Gall for the Stuttgart region, Anke Decker for the Berlin/Prenzlauer Berg region, Uwe Müller for the Koblenz-Arzheim region, Silvia Krämer for the Bornheim-Hersel region, Frank Pötschokat for the Dessow region, Dieter Mintgen for the Andernach region and Ulrich Hilgers for the Mönchengladbach-Rheydt region.
Every representative received a signed certificate and a signed copy of the Jordan EJ10 car (1:43 scale) from Heinz-Harald Frentzen, rewarding their support and the friendly co-operation. The nine winners of the 2001 News line competition have been honoured, too. Every month, questions had to be answered correctly. The following lucky fans received a signed copy of the EJ11 car (1:18 scale): Joachim Feinauer, Renate Sambale, Herbert Stuppy, Martin Schulz, Brigitte Zinner, Roman Henninger, Harald Kraus, Karl Waltering and Heidi Kuck.
Heinz-Harald has a widespread community of fans. From everywhere around the globe, from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Canada, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and from the USA, they write to the Fan-Club based in Groß-Zimmern/Germany. Heinz-Harald honoured the international members who were prepared to travel from the most remote regions to the Club event. Yoko Nishimoto holds a record as she travelled from Japan to Germany. Louise Heatley came from great Britain to see her idol. From Switzerland, Irène and Roger Abegglen joint the event, whilst Angeliane Muller and Marcel de Vos came from the Netherlands. Each of the six fans received a certificate, awarding the accolade of being Heinz-Harald’s “most loyal international fan”.
Finally, the winners of the Heinz-Harald Frentzen Challenge received their trophies, with the juniors getting their own prices. The signed kart trophies were awarded to Sascha Haida (1st place), Jennifer Mintgen (2nd place) and Nadine-Nicole Frentzen (3rd place). Further signed kart trophies were given to winner Danny Warschun, Achim Pankalla (2nd place) and Bernd Vollmer (3rd place). The quickest lady was Angeliane Muller from the Netherlands. Already last year, she used to be the quickest lady driver. Every winner received a signed trophy and a certificate from Heinz-Harald.
Heinz-Harald also used the opportunity to thank his loyal fans, particularly for their support during the German Grand Prix which Heinz-Harald didn’t attend. Thomas Dierking, the most remarkable fan, received a special honour: he regularly attends the Hockenheim event and he always dies his hair according to the colour of Heinz-Harald’s car. He received a certificate from Heinz-Harald and a signed helmet visor.
The biggest surprise of the day was his girlfriend Nicki Eickhoff. Both met and fell in love at a Heinz-Harald-Frentzen fan event. Nicki used the opportunity to share the stage with Heinz-Harald to make a proposal of marriage to her dear Thomas. He was extremely touched and accepted the proposal. The audience celebrated them with a huge applause.
At 17.15 hours, the official part was over. Heinz-Harald said good-bye to his fans and returned to his wife and his lovely daughter with whom he will spent a well-deserved holiday. A core of fans remained throughout the eveneing and everybody is looking forward to the next big event with Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The club members were excited about this year's event, as a selection of their statements clearly shows: "The only thing I can say to the event: well done, very well done! It was much better then the year before, very relaxed and exciting!" Angeliane Muller
"The celebration was perfect and it would be nice to celebrate the next event in the same manner." Conny and Frank Weidmann
"My wife and me want to thank you for an exciting event." Harald Kraus
"The whole day was interesting. I t was good fun and I got to know other HHF fans. Heinz-Harald gave me three autographs and I took a lot of photos - what else could I expect?" Louise Heatley
"I was absolutely thrilled. Carry on!!!" Silke Höhner
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