JvO Racing & Racing Experience take wins on Prototype Cup Germany opening weekend
The 2023 Prototype Cup Germany season got underway last weekend in Hockenheim with a pair of races, both won by Duqueine D08 customer teams.
The first hour-long sprint race was won by Oscar Tunjo and Julien Apothéloz from JvO Racing by Downforce Motorsports. It was a lights-to-flag victory over Racing Experience’s duo of Gary Hauser and Markus Pommer and the Koiranen Kemppi Duqueine of Laurents Hörr and Matthias Lüthen who completed the podium.
“The joy and relief is obviously huge. Last year, I often narrowly missed out on victory in the Prototype Cup Germany. Now I have finally done it. Thank you to the team and Julien. I am overjoyed,” said a jubilant Tunjo on the podium.
On Sunday Racing Experience would take the spoils and the championship lead after Hauser and Pommer stormed to the front in the latter stages. Pommer was entrusted to steer the car home and snatched the lead off DKR Engineering’s Robin Rogalski with three minutes remaining.
“I had a good stint, but it is really hard to overtake in Hockenheim with an LMP3 car. I was able to put some decent pressure on the car in front. When he then made a slight mistake, I passed him. After second place yesterday, winning today is the stuff of dreams,” said Pommer.
Rogalski and his teammate Valentino Catalano would finish second, while the Race 1 winners from JvO Racing by Downforce Motorsports took third.
Schubert Motorsport enters GT Masters
Schubert Motorsport will compete in the 2023 ADAC GT Masters season with a BMW M4 GT3.
The German team, from Magdeburger Börd, has signed 2022 Pirelli Junior winner Ben Green and Eduardo Coseteng, who will make his ADAC GT debut as part of this programme.
“We had a very good first year with the BMW M4 GT3 in 2022. Our team has a long association with the ADAC GT Masters and we have always valued the involvement in this championship,” says team manager Marcel Schmidt.
“For this reason, we worked hard over the winter to be able to start in this series again, as well as in the DTM. The fact that the ADAC is the organiser of both racing series has organisational and logistical advantages for us as a team, which makes the involvement even more attractive for us.”
Double win for Mertel Motorsports in GT Cup Europe
Mertel Motorsport’s duo of Iván Velasco and Jorge Cabezas completed a weekend sweep on the GT Cup Europe’s curtain raiser weekend at Portimao in the first appearance for the 488 Challenge in the series.
In Race 1 the Mertel duo climbed the order in the opening 10 laps and took the lead. It wasn’t a simple run to the flag after the mandatory stops though, as a 5-second penalty was handed to the eventual winners for not completing the minimum pit stop time.
Volcano Motorsports’ Evgenii Leonov, sitting second after the stops, looked close enough to take the win because of the time penalty, but a spin on the final lap dropped him to fifth. It meant the #80 Mertel Ferrari would claim the win, as it was far enough ahead of the chasing pack to hold the lead even with the time penalty.
“It was a tough race, with the penalty, the safety car and struggling with the tyres at the end, but we just kept pushing”, said the winners.
Velasco and Cabezas continued their fine form in the second race after Velasco made a daring move for the lead on the 18th lap.
New 911 GT2 RS Clubsport earns podiums on debut
Porsche Motorsport’s newest version of 911 GT2 RS Clubsport enjoyed podium successes in its GT2 European Series debut at Monza.
Ebimotors brought the car its first Am class podium results with its brace of Porsches sealing second and third-place finishes in the first race of the season. The #10 Mathey Racing entry followed with another podium and second place in race two, wrapping up a successful weekend for the brand.
The Porsche Motorsport update of the 700hp 911 GT2 RS Clubsport primarily includes extensively optimised aerodynamics, redesigned 18-inch wheels and modified shock absorbers, and further improved safety features.
The underlying technology of the racing car remains unchanged and is still based on the high-performance 991-generation 911 GT2 RS sports car powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre flat-six engine.
“With the introduction of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport back in 2019, Porsche was one of the trailblazers in the revival of the GT2 class in motorsport,” explains Michael Dreiser, director of sales at Porsche Motorsport.
“We still see positive development in this category and want to give our customers the means to continue competing at the top of the GT2 sector with the 911 GT2 RS Clubsport evo kit.”
Porsche Motorsport offers this new evo kit for €85,000 plus VAT.
Images courtesy of ADAC, GT Cup Europe and Porsche
