The ADAC GT Masters appearance at the ADAC Truck Grand Prix at the Nürburgring was a complete success. The 212,000 fans were treated to a pair of hard fought sportscar races during the event weekend. The Stuck brothers Ferdinand (20, AUT) and Johannes (24, AUT) won Saturday's race in the Team Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo and in doing so defended their championship lead despite retiring on Sunday. Former Champ Car driver Andreas Wirth (26, GER) and Christiaan Frankenhout (29, NED) presented the Mercedes SLS Gull Wing racer with its first ADAC GT Master's race victory on Sunday.
In Saturday's race the Stucks produced a perfect start-finish victory on the traditional Eifel track's 3,629 meter sprint circuit. However, they had to put in an hour of hard work for this triumph. "This was certainly one of the closest ADAC GT Masters races ever," said a breathless Johannes Stuck. His brother Ferdinand drove the opening stint but was unable to pull away from his closest rival Dominik Baumann (18, AUT) especially after a safety car period stacked up the field again. At the flag only 1.4 seconds separated the winners from Baumann and his teammate Harald Proczyk (35, AUT) in the HEICO MOTORSPORT Mercedes-Benz SLS. "The tyres deteriorated heavily towards the end of the race and I lost some of our cushion," said Johannes Stuck. The podium was completed by Andreas Wirth/Christiaan Frankenhout who scythed through the field with a series of spectacular overtaking manoeuvres from twelfth on the grid in the Gull Wing Mercedes. On the penultimate lap Frankenhout forged past the a-workx-Akrapovic-Porsche 911 of Sebastian Asch (25, GER) and Michael Ammermüller (25, GER) to take third place.
The Wirth/Frankenhout duo's surge to the front was unstoppable in Sunday as well. This time their fight back took them from ninth on the grid to the first ADAC GT Masters victory for the duo, the team and the Mercedes Gull Wing racer. Victory for the brand with the star and HEICO MOTORSPORT was completed by the previous day's second place finishers Baumann/Proczyk who forced the ABT Audi duo Christopher Mies/Luca Ludwig (GER) from third place on the final lap. Finishing in second between them was defending champion Albert von Thurn und Taxis and team mate Philip Geipel in a Reiter Lamborghini.
Frentzen also rapid
Former Formula 1 star Heinz-Harald Frentzen (44, GER) was also rapid. He handed over the Callaway-Corvette to Sven Hannawald (36, GER) in third place. However, the ski jump Olympic winner left the track while fighting for position and was classified a lap behind in 29th place. Alexandros Margaritis (26, GRE) and Dino Lunardi (32, FRA) who arrived as championship leaders had a weekend to forget. On Saturday their BMW ALPINA fielded by LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler retired with damaged suspension following a barging match, on Sunday they were twentieth after receiving a time penalty.
In the standings Margaritis/Lunardi with 83 points lie eight points behind the new leaders Stuck/Stuck at the half-way stage of the season. Following closely behind are the two ABT pairings of Mies/Ludwig (79 points) and Jens Klingmann/Christer Jöns (GER, 75 points). They were the only ones to claim a useful result at the weekend with a fifth place behind their team mates on Sunday. Sunday's winners Wirth/Frankenhout moved right into the thick of the title battle with 70 points.
Hayek racks up most points
Marc A. Hayek heads up the amateurs. The 40-year old Swiss racked up the most amount of points in both races at the Nürburgring alongside Peter Kox (47, NED). They also scored points for the overall standings after taking a fifth and ninth position.
The next ADAG GT Masters event is during the ADAC Masters Weekend at theRed Bull Ring (AUT) between 12 and 14 August.