Winner of the first ever ADAC GT Masters race (Nürburgring, 2007) Wolfgang Kaufmann came to watch Sunday's racing during the ADAC Masters Weekend at the Lausitzring. Kaufmann had good reason for being at the Lausitzring, because on Monday, he drove some of the supercars contesting the ADAC GT Masters in a back-to-back test for a car magazine.
'Live' from the cockpit: For the first time ever, two drivers gave a 'live' commentary during an ADAC GT Masters race at the Lausitzring. Swen Dolenc and Sebastian Asch said a few words to camera for kabel eins whilst still on the parade laps.
Young Driver AMR team principal Hardy Fischer left the Lausitzring 1,000 euros poorer. The Aston Martin team boss had to pay a 1,000-euro fine after Nygaard was released out on track in an unsafe manner during first practice, subsequently making brief contact with a Prosperia uhc speed Audi R8 LMS ultra in the pit lane.
Top of the stop-and-go penalty charts: The longest stop-and-go penalty to date of the 2012 season goes to HEICO Gravity Charouz. In Race 2 on Sunday, Jan Stovicek and Erik Janis were 48 seconds late for the mandatory pit stop in their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 and were immediately handed a 48-second stop-and-go penalty. By the way, Achim Winter/Kevin Veltmann still hold the record in the 'lateness' stakes. Two years ago in Assen, their stop lasted more than four minutes.
Team Rhinos Leipert Motorsport continued their eastward trek on Sunday instead of heading west back to base. The Lamborghini team drove straight from the Lausitzring to Latvia in order to join the convoy en route to the FIA GT3 European Championship race in Moscow.
This was the second double victory for Christian Engelhart/Nick Tandy and for Porsche at the Lausitzring. Tim Bergmeister and his brother Jörg won in 2008, securing the title one race later.
18,500 spectators in total attended the ADAC Masters Weekend at the Lausitzring.
Fans gazed in astonishment at the new wind turbine directly behind the main grandstand. It dwarfs the Lausitzring stand, which is not exactly small. The turbine, which will come on stream in September, is currently undergoing trials and is one of the largest ever constructed.
After achieving two more successes at the Lausitzring, Porsche 911 GT3 Rs have now secured nine victories in the ADAC GT Masters.
Speedy taxi drivers: ADAC guests and their series partners were treated to thrilling rides around the Lausitzring circuit. ADAC GT Masters official car partner Audi brought four examples of the Audi R8 V10 5.2, as used in the Audi Driving Experience, to the Lausitzring. Christopher Mies, Edward Sandström and Frank Schmickler and others found employment as super-quick taxi drivers.
Double victories such as the success of Christian Engelhart and Nick Tandy in Saturday's and Sunday's fixtures are a rarity in the ADAC GT Masters. The previous pair of drivers to win both races in a single weekend was Albert von Thurn and Taxis and Peter Kox in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3 two years ago at - well yes, you guessed, the Lausitzring!
Even safety car driver Ronald Dobmeier in the Audi R8 GT was kept busy as never before this season during Race 1 on Saturday. "I was almost out of fuel after the first ADAC GT Masters race and had to fill up quickly," commented Dobmeier last Saturday afternoon.
Everyone was horrified, especially GT3 Kasko team members, when Christopher Schrezenmeier crashed out of Race 1 on Saturday, but the all-clear was soon sounded: "We heard relatively quickly from the race doctor. He told us that Christoph had been up to his old tricks again, making up jokes and wise-cracking in the ambulance, so we knew it couldn't be all that bad," said a happy René Bourdeaux, relieved that his team boss was going to be OK.