Defending champions Michael Ammermüller and Mathieu Jaminet won their second race of the season in the SSR Performance Porsche.
Schubert BMW driver Nick Yelloly started the race from pole and stayed ahead at the start. The Englishman maintained the lead up to the fifth lap, but then had to retire in the pit lane after suspension damage.
That left Mann-Filter Team Landgraf – HTP Mercedes-AMG driver Raffaele Marciello in the lead, extended it to 3.5 seconds by the mid-point pit stops ahead of the SSR Porsche.
But when both had handed over to their teammates Maximilian Buhk and Mathieu Jaminet, the front runners were within striking distance.
Jaminet did not take long and immediately tried to pass the leading Mercedes. On lap 22, the 2018 champion achieved this with a spectacular manoeuvre that spanned several corners. While Buhk was then put under pressure by his pursuers, leader Jaminet extended his lead to over six seconds lap by lap.
A late safety car phase to recover debris pushed the field together again shortly before the end of the race, but Jaminet stayed ahead and was the first to see the checkered flag.
The battle for second place was also exciting. In the end, it went to the Lamborghini duo of Mirko Bortolotti and Albert Costa Balboa, 1.1 seconds behind. Bortolotti had set the fastest time in qualifying but had to start the race from sixth on the grid due to a penalty incurred by his teammate in Oschersleben.
The Italian fought his way to fourth place in the first half of the race before Costa Balboa moved up to second in his stint, giving the GRT Grasser Racing Team a podium at their home fixture. Corvette drivers Jeffrey Schmidt and Marvin Kirchhöfer took their first podium of the season in third place. Kirchhöfer fought a close fight with Maximilian Buhk in the final phase. In the meantime, he had to let this pass again on the instructions of the race management because of disregarding the track barriers, but immediately regained the last podium place. Marciello and Buhk had to be content with fourth place in the end.
Shortly before the end of the race, newcomers Dennis Lind and Dries Vanthoor took fifth in the best-placed Audi R8 LMS ahead of the Team Joos Sportwagentechnik Porsche of David Jahn and Marco Holzer.
Seventh place went to Rolf Ineichen and Franck Perera in a second GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini. Ineichen also won the Pirelli Trophy classification. The winners of the Pirelli Junior classification were Kim-Luis Schramm and Dennis Marschall in a Rutronik Racing by Tece Audi. Robert Renauer and Sven Müller for Precote Herberth Motorsport crossed the finish line in ninth place, followed by Luca Stolz and Maro Engel in their Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT AMG GT3, who started the race in 24th.
Michael Ammermüller: “The team did a good job and thanks to the solid placement in qualifying with third place, I was able to get through the first stint well. When restarting after the first safety car, it was again tight, but I was able to pull the car out a little bit to the pit stop window. Mathieu performed very well today and we are happy about the win. ”
Mathieu Jaminet: “It was an exciting race with many duels. The fight with Maximilian Buhk was really spectacular and close to the limit.
