16 exciting races at eight circuits, a varied podium, fastest race in the history of the series and the most wins this season. The ADAC GT Masters season delighted fans with plenty of exciting motor racing and ultimately set many new records. Facts and figures regarding the eighth Super Sports Car League season.
International: 78 drivers from 19 countries took part in the 2014 ADAC GT Masters. 41 drivers, more than half of the field came from outside of Germany. Drivers from Australia, Spain, Israel, Latvia and Estonia joined the line-up for the first time.
A motley crew: 16 teams, fielding supercars from eight different manufacturers competed in the 2014 ADAC GT Masters. Six of the seven supercars that lined up for all 16 races in 2014 achieved podium finishes.
Strong field: 26 supercars on average contested the eight events.
Variety: In the 16 races, seven different driver pairings secured wins for a variety of cars: Corvette, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
High calibre: Five ex-Formula 1 drivers/Formula 1 test drivers were represented in the field in 2014, plus nine former DTM drivers. Former FIA GT1 world champions and FIA GT3 European champions and even reigning world rally champion Sébastien Ogier raced in the ADAC GT Masters.
Record-breaking winner: Daniel Keilwitz set a new record of six victories this year. Having secured a total of 14 victories, the Corvette driver is now the most successful driver in the history of the series in terms of race wins.
Series winner: The most wins this season went to the Corvette. The V8 sports car took seven wins, making it the supercar with the most victories to its name in the ADAC GT Masters. The Corvette, which has started in all 118 ADAC GT Masters races staged since 2007, has so far achieved a total of 23 race wins. Corvette team Callaway Competition was the most successful team in 2014 with six wins in all.
The quickest: Eleven different drivers secured the top position on the grid in the 16 races. Daniel Keilwitz achieved the most pole positions, taking the top spot three times in the Corvette. The Audi R8 was the fastest supercar in qualifying, giving its drivers the best grid position in six races.
Serial cup winners: Champions van der Linde/Rast collected the most trophies. The two Audi drivers finished on the podium in nine out of 16 races. In all, 20 different combinations of drivers secured podiums. Audi drivers were the most successful with 12 podium finishes, followed by Porsche drivers, who took eleven podiums. Prosperia C Abt Racing team members finished on the podium most frequently. The 2014 team champions put their drivers on the podium twelve times.
Nail-biting finishes: After 60 minutes of racing, the gap between winner and runner-up was less than three seconds in twelve out of 16 races.
Variety: The lead changed hands a total of 39 times between 18 different teams in the 16 races.
Most gripping: The season opener in the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben kicked off with a bang, producing the most exciting finish of the whole season. Maximilian Buhk/Maximilian Götz in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (HTP Motorsport) won with a lead of 0.3 seconds on the Audi R8 (Prosperia C Abt Racing) of Kelvin van der Linde/René Rast. Buhk/Götz also achieved the most convincing victory. In the first race at the Lausitzring, the Mercedes-Benz pair came home 13.8 seconds ahead of the Porsche 911 (TONINO Team Herberth) driven by Robert Renauer/Norbert Siedler to claim victory.
High speed: Daniel Keilwitz/Oliver Gavin won the first race at the Red Bull Ring in a Corvette with an average speed of 165.9 km/h, the highest average ever achieved during a race in the history of the series.
Top speed: The Chevrolet Camaro of Albert von Thurn und Taxis/Tomas Enge posted a top speed of 270.2 km/h at Hockenheim, the highest of the 2014 season.
Young & old: Aged just 17 at the start of the season, ADAC GT Masters champion Kelvin van der Linde was the youngest driver this season, becoming the youngest ever pole-setter/winner. He then went on to finish the season as the youngest champion in the annals of the series. 56-year-old ADAC GT Masters veteran Toni Seiler was the oldest driver in this year's line-up.
Loyal competitor: Seiler also remains the most senior driver in the ADAC GT Masters, having enjoyed his 100th start at the season opener in the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Seiler has contested all of his races in a Corvette.
Premiere: Reiter Engineering's Chevrolet Camaro posted its first kilometres in the lead in the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring. Tomas Enge led for 15 laps in the second race.
Nifty work in the lead: The Corvette fielded by Callaway Competition and bearing start number 1 posted the most kilometres in the lead. Daniel Keilwitz and team-mates Oliver Gavin and Andreas Wirth led for a total of 700.9 km and 158 laps in the ADAC GT Masters races.
Fastest lap: The Slovakia Ring was the fastest track of the 2014 season. In qualifying for the second race, Jens Klingman in the BMW Z4 (PIXUM Team Schubert) secured pole with an average speed of 176.9 km/h, setting the record for the highest average speed of the season taken over one lap.
The most reliable: Two supercars completed all 574 race laps, covering 2,359.04 kilometres. The Audi R8 LMS ultra of Kelvin van der Linde/René Rast and the BMW Z4 with Claudia Hürtgen/Dominik Baumann at the wheel were the two most reliable vehicles in the field, comfortably going the distance.
Supreme victories: Three pairs of driver achieved perfect start/finish victories without losing the lead. Kévin Estre/Jaap van Lagen (Zandvoort 1) David Jahn / Sven Barth (Nürburgring 1) and Andreas Wirth/Daniel Keilwitz (Hockenheim 2) all took supreme wins with Wirth/Keilwitz finishing in P1 from pole position.
Good start: BKK Mobil Oil Team Zakspeed (Mercedes-Benz) and RWT Racing Team (Corvette) contested their first full ADAC GT Masters season in 2014 and were immediately successful. Zakspeed, who are well established, secured two pole positions and RWT notched up one win.
Foot flat to the floor: 13 different drivers set fastest race laps in the 16 races. René Rast in the Audi R8 took the greatest number of fastest laps, three in all. The Corvette was the quickest car, posting a total of five fastest laps.
Speedy Gentlemen drivers: Austrian Herbert Handlos in the Porsche 911 claimed nine victories for TONINO Team Herberth on his way to winning the title in the Gentlemen class, becoming one of the top three Gentlemen drivers in the history of the series after only one season.
Speedy juniors: For the first time in an ADAC GT Masters race, two ADAC Sports Foundation protégés, Lennart Marioneck in a Corvette and Thomas Schöffler in an Audi R8, lined up on the grid at the season finale in Hockenheim.
Tickets cost 20 euros, including access to paddock
Fans who want to experience the ADAC GT Masters live at the racetrack can now get tickets for the races at Oschersleben, at the Lausitzring and at the Nürburgring for just 20 euros, including access to the paddock. Tickets are available online at www.adac.de/gt-masters, from all ADAC offices, at www.eventim.de and from more than 20,000 Eventim ticket offices throughout Europe.
The ADAC GT Masters will line up again in the 2015 season for eight events with 16 races in Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. All 16 races of the ADAC GT Masters will be broadcast live on free-to-air TV channel SPORT1. Coverage begins at 1 pm each race weekend.
Schedule and venues for the 2015 ADAC GT Masters:
24/04 - 26/04/2015 etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
05/06 - 07/06/2015 Red Bull Ring (A)
19/06 - 21/06/2015 Circuit Spa-Francorchamps (B)
03/07 - 05/07/2015 Lausitzring
14/08 - 16/08/2015 Nürburgring
28/08 - 30/08/2015 Sachsenring
18/09 - 20/09/2015 Circuit Park Zandvoort (NL)
02/10 - 04/10/2015 Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg