The fight to cross the finish line in P1 and secure the gentlemen class win at the ninth round of the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring was even more exciting than the battle for victory overall. Over the course of the final few laps of the 4.3km Red Bull Ring, bumper to bumper and three abreast, the top three chased around the track: the Corvette of Remo Lips/Lennart Marioneck (Callaway Competition) and the Porsche 911s of René Bourdeaux/Alfred Renauer (Tonino powered by Herberth Motorsport) and Christina Nielsen/Anthony Beltoise (Farnbacher Racing). In the end, Swiss driver Lips won through to take the first class victory in the gentlemen rating for the Corvette. Bourdeaux took second place from Nielsen.

Nielsen led from Gottfried Grasser in the Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 (Grasser Racing) and Lips at the start of the race but could only maintain P1 until the tenth lap, when she suddenly dropped back down to P3. "A Mercedes lying in front of me rattled through the mud. The track was dirty and I couldn't see a thing, which immediately cost me quite a few places," said Danish driver Nielsen, who heads the table in the gentlemen class.

And so, Grasser took the lead from Lips, but Lennart Marioneck went into P1 after the driver changeover when Grasser's team-mate Bernhard Auinger had to serve a time penalty for a rule infringement during the start. But then, Marioneck came under pressure from Renauer and Beltoise, who shadowed the ADAC Sports Foundation protégé closely during the last seven laps, literally centimetres from his back bumper. But the Corvette driver showed no sign of any nerves and went on to ensure the class win for team-mate Lips despite very strong pressure from the two Porsche drivers.

Remo Lips was delighted with his first class win: "I had a good start and was quite a way up the field when I had to drive in a wide arc through the first turn. We're finally making progress after a long wait. Lenny (Marioneck) drove a strong race in the second half of the race."

René Bourdeaux in second place took three points out of Nielsen in the gentlemen standings but was still not entirely happy: "I was just a little bit too cautious and not aggressive enough in today's race, otherwise victory might have been possible. I was too focused on simply securing points today."

Toni Seiler had a spot of bad luck and had to retire his Corvette Z06.R (Callaway Competition) during the first half of the race with gearbox failure. Local driver Grasser did not finish either due to a technical defect in the second half of the race.