Race 1
David Jahn and Kévin Estre gave World Endurance Championship titleholder Timo Bernhard and his father Rüdiger something to smile about by winning the first of two races at the Red Bull Ring in a Porsche 911 entered by KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard.
“That was a perfect race,” beamed Jahn after claiming his second Super Sports Car League victory. “Thanks to the team for getting the setup just right.” Fabian Hamprecht and Christer Jöns finished second in a Bentley Continental to give Bentley Team ABT their first podium of the season. Third place for the Callaway Corvette duo of Jules Gounon and Daniel Keilwitz was enough to lift them into the top spot at this halfway point in the campaign.
Lining up in pole position in the Bentley Continental, Hamprecht initially defended his lead at the start of this race, the seventh of 14 marking the mid-point of the 2016 ADAC GT Masters season. He had inherited the front of the grid from teammates Jordan Pepper and Daniel Abt, who were unable to start due to a technical problem. However, Hamprecht was unable to defend the top spot for very long. Jahn, who had started from third place on the grid in a Porsche 911, got past on the back straight of the opening lap and then led comfortably from Hamprecht and Corvette driver Gounon through to the halftime change of drivers.
The positions of the two leading cars remained the same after the round of mandatory pit stops. Estre took over from Jahn with a small lead on Hamprecht´s teammate, Jöns. Meanwhile, the third and fourth-placed cars were swapping position. kfzteile24 APR Motorsport driver Laurens Vanthoor rejoined the track in front of the Corvette of Daniel Keilwitz but had to serve a drive-through penalty a quarter of an hour before the end of the race for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane.
Contesting their first common weekend in the ADAC GT Masters, David Jahn and Kévin Estre secured a maiden victory in the ADAC GT Masters for their team, KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard. Frenchman Estre, now resident in Austria, continued his impressive record of wins, clinching a third success in only his fifth ADAC GT Masters outing.
Jöns held on to second place through to the finish line and secured a first ever podium appearance for Bentley Team ABT. Third place for Gounon and Keilwitz was enough to see them wrestle the championship lead from Connor de Phillippi and Christopher Mies’ Land Motorsport Audi, who had monopolised the top spot until now.
Mies retired his Audi R8 after being involved in a collision with the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 of Robert Renauer and Martin Ragginger. The Callaway Corvette C7 of Patrick Assenheimer and Dominik Schwager came home in fourth place to achieve a top five finish for the third consecutive race.
Two driver pairings hunting down the leaders in the championship standings were the Team Zakspeed duo of Sebastian Asch and Luca Ludwig and Grasser Racing’s duo of Rolf Ineichen and Christian Engelhart. They achieved decent results by finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
The second Zakspeed Mercedes, with the two young drivers Nikolaj Rogivue and Nicolai Sylvest (at the wheel, came home in seventh place to secure points for the fourth time this year.
Race 2
Jules Gounon and Daniel Keilwitz consolidated their championship lead in the second race of the weekend in Austria, after Stoll and Vanthoor – who were originally adjudged winners – were subsequently disqualified.
The Callaway Competition Corvette C7 of Jules Gounon and Daniel Keilwitz claimed their third victory in the 2016 ADAC GT Masters to further extend their championship lead. The other podium positions for the second race at the Red Bull Ring went to runners-up Jordan Pepper and Daniel Abt driving for Bentley Team ABT and to defending champions Sebastian Asch and Luca Ludwig in their AMG Team Zakspeed AMG GT3.
Florian Stoll and Laurens Vanthoor who were originally adjudged winners in their kfzteile24 APR Motorsport Audi R8 were subsequently disqualified after the technical inspection.
Championship leader Keilwitz defended his pole position at the start of the race. The field of 33 super sports car emerged from the first corner unscathed, and there were initially no changes in the first six positions. Pole-sitter and current championship leader Daniel Keilwitz in a Corvette C7 successfully defended the race lead from the challenge of Audi man Laurens Vanthoor and Daniel Abt in a Bentley for most of his stint at the wheel. It was shortly before the mandatory pit stop that Vanthoor pulled off the ultimately decisive pass.
After the driver changeover, Keilwitz´s team-mate Jules Gounon responded immediately by putting pressure on new race leader Florian Stoll. Two safety car deployments in quick succession for recovery of stranded vehicles brought the field back together again. At both restarts, race leader Stoll kept his cool, defended his lead and crossed the finish line one second clear of the field.
Meanwhile, race-winners Gounon and Keilwitz were extending their overall lead in the championship, and behind them, Jordan Pepper and Daniel Abt were jubilant about securing their first podium of the season. Third place was enough for reigning champions Sebastian Asch and Luca Ludwig in their AMG-Mercedes to hang on to third place in the 2016 drivers´ standings.
Rolf Ineichen and Christian Engelhart’s Grasser lamborghini put in yet another solid performance in their Huracán to finish fourth. Fourth place gave Ineichen another win in the Trophy class reserved for gentlemen drivers. The Corvette of Remo Lips and Sven Barth, which originally finished fourth, was given a 30-second time penalty after the race and subsequently classified 17th.
The winners of Saturday´s race, David Jahn and Kévin Estre moved through the field in their Porsche 911 from P14 on the grid to fifth. An even more spectacular charge up the field was staged by Connor De Phillippi and Christopher Mies’s Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi which gained nine positions to ultimately be classified sixth.
The second Audi of kfzteile24 APR Motorsport, driven by Daniel Dobitsch and Edward Sandström, which originally finished seventh, also failed technical inspection and was subsequently also not classified.
In the Junior category for drivers under 25 years of age, Jules Gounon celebrated his third win of the season and remains leader.
