BMW and Corvette take the spoils; Alessi and Keilwitz lead into Hockenheim finale.
For its 50th race weekend and so 100th race the ADAC GT Masters travelled to the Slovakiaring, with a total of 22 cars making the trek to the track in Orechova Poton. For the first race it was Frank Kechele that put his Lambda Performance Ford GT one pole position ahead of Simon Knap in the DB Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3. Row two went to Philipp Frommenwiler in the Farnbacher-Porsche and the Polarweiss SLS of Maximilian Götz. For the centenary GT Masters race it was Markus Winkelhock that secured pole position, making up the front row with him was his Prosperia C.Abt teammate Christopher Haase. And making it an all Prosperia R8 front three it was the third R8 LMS ultra of Christopher Mies and Rene Rast. Dominik Baumann was best of the rest, by putting his Schubert Z4 into fourth.
Race 1
On race day the teams were greeted by heavy downpours, even forcing the organizers to hold a 10 minutes free practice so the teams could adapt to the conditions. And so the race was set off behind the safetycar, which pulled into the pit lane after the third lap. It was Kechele who was able to take the lead, but right from the get go was put under heavy pressure by Knap in the DB-Z4. During the tenth lap Knap finally found a way by Kechele and could build up a sizeable lead, 10 seconds when he handed to Z4 over to his teammate Jeroen den Boer. Den Boer was able to keep on building on the lead, at one point holding a 15 second advantage and cruised to the season’s first victory for DB Motorsport.
While the overall victor was never contested the order for two to four went down to the wire. Markus Winkelhock was able to get by Maximilian Bukh to bring home second. And in a drag race to the finish line it was Bukh that lost third place to Dominik Baumann in the Schubert Z4 GT3. Baumann beat the Polarweiss-SLS but the smallest of margins, 0,026 seconds.
Fifth place went to Christopher Mies and René Rast in their Prosperia C.Abt Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra, one place ahead of the Tonino Porsche of Robert Renauer and Martin Ragginger. With his sixth place finish it was Renauer who was able to take the championship lead. Seventh went to the second Plarweiss SLS of Sergey Afanasiev and Andreas Simonsen.
Rahel Frey and Christopher Haase brought their Prosperia R8 home in eight place, while Philipp Frommenwiler and Mario Farnbacher finished in ninth. The final point went to Jörg Müller and Max Sandritter in the second Schubert Z4. After a pitstop infringement resulting in a time penalty Frank Kechele and Dominik Schwager finished in 14th position. One place behind it was Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz finishing a disappointing 15th, this after Alessi had a problem in qualifying resulting in the Callaway-Corvette to start dead last. In the Gentlemen-Trophy it was René Bourdeaux, sharing the second Tonino-911 with Alfred Renauer, scoring another victory.
Race 2
Move of the year definitely happened at the start of the 100th ADAC GT Masters race, when Daniel Keilwitz at came from tenth to first by the time reached the first corner. Following the Corvette in close comfort it was Maximilian Bukh in the Polarweiss-SLS, the gullwinged sports car was even able to take the lead on the opening laps only to hand it back to Keilwitz a few corners later.
The race got interesting by the time the pit stop window opened, when René Rast was able to close the gap to the Corvette and SLS by putting down a couple of quick laps aboard his Prosperia-R8. But a problem at the pitstop caused Rast and partner Christopher Mies to loose around six second and by the time Mies returned to the track Diego Alessi was still leading with him being in second. Until the chequered flag came out Alessi and Mies lapped the Slovakiaring with a small margin but never changed positions. In the end Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz got their fifth victory of the season and so got their championship lead back.
In second it was Christopher Mies and René Rast ahead of Maximilian Bukh and Maximilian Götz in their Polarweiss-SLS. Fourth went to Jörg Müller and Max Sandritter, one position ahead of the pole starting Audi of Markus Winkelhock and Christer Jöns. The third Prosperia R8 finished in sixth. Robert Renauer and Martin Ragginger finished seventh ahead of Saturday’s winners Simon Knap and Jeroen den Boer. A fine eight place went to Adity Patel and Daniel Dobitsch in the MS Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra, and Dominik Baumann and Claudia Hürtgen scored the final point of the weekend. Christina Nielsen, this weekend partnered by Kuba Giermaziak, scored the win in the Gentlemen-Trophy.
Heading into the finale at Hockenheim in total 11 drivers have a chance to win the championship in Germany’s premiere GT championship. Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz have 161 points and hold a 14 point advantage over the Mercedes-Duo Maximilian Bukh/Maximilian Götz and Tonino-Porsche racer Robert Renauer. Dominik Baumann and Claudia Hürtgen are 25 points back, while René Rast and Christopher Mies are an additional eight points further back. Jeroen den Boer and Simon Knap have 118 points and with 50 points still to be handed have to hope for a good performance at Hockenheim while their competitors have to run into trouble. Martin Ragginger has 127 points, but with his Partner Robert Renauer having 147 points due to the fact that Ragginger missed the Nürburgring round, the young Austrian has no chance of winning the championship.
The team championship will be a hard fought one as well, with Prosperia C. Abt Racing having 199 points and a 9 point gap to Callaway Competition. While PIXUM Team Schubert (188) and Polarweiss Racing (178) sill have all to play for. Tonino powered by Herberth Motorsport has 164 points and can still hope of bringing home the team championship.
In Gentlemen Trophy Christina Nielsen (237 points) holds a one-point advantage over Rene Bourdeaux. Remo Lips is the third one vying for the championship with 201 points.
The season finale of the ADAC GT Masters takes place September 27th – 29th at Hockenheim.
Soren Herweg
