In just two months' time, a new ADAC GT Masters season gets under way on the weekend of April 25th-27th in the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. With just 60 days to go before the start of the season, the teams in the Super Sports Car League are heading into the final third part of the winter break and thus into the most frantic period for pre-season preparation. On the technology side, all teams can deploy familiar materials for the 2014 season. Since the engineering utilised by the GT3 sports car remains unchanged from the previous season, all teams will start with a wealth of experience and can concentrate on fine tuning in the tests before the season proper starts.

How do teams prepare their super sports car during the winter ahead of the new season? "We have taken apart our Audi R8 LMS ultra down to the last nut and bolt over the winter months," said Uwe Geipel, team principal at YACO Racing. "We checked every last detail and then completely rebuilt our Audi. We will start with first tests in early March and commence the final phase of pre-season preparation."

At Callaway Competition too, the armada that consists of four Corvette GT3 Z06.Rs has also been completely dismantled in recent months. "We've completely rebuilt our Corvettes," said Callaway Competition team boss Giovanni Ciccone. "We x-rayed certain parts that have a long life cycle in order to ensure that we maintain a high level of reliability again this season."

This year marks the eighth season in the ADAC GT Masters for the Corvette Z06.R, and Callaway Competition now know the U.S. sports car inside out. Nonetheless, testing will form part of pre-season preparations: "The technology that underpins all cars in the ADAC GT Masters is unchanged this year, unlike in previous years, so no one has to try updates before the season. We are continuing with testing to prepare for the season but now have more opportunity to try out different things and experiment, for example, with chassis adjustments. There's no time for such things on a busy race weekend." Quite apart from vehicle checks and tests, there is little chance of boredom setting in at Callaway. "We are building a new car for RWT Racing managed by Gerd Beisel, plus a Corvette for another customer team."

H.T.P. Motorsport are using the winter break very differently. The Mercedes-Benz team have been racing to prepare for the ADAC GT Masters. This February, H.T.P. travelled to the other ends of the earth with a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 and competed in a 12-hour long distance race in Australia with ADAC GT Masters race winners Maxi Buhk and Thomas Jäger. Their reward for the long journey, second place and a wealth of new experience.