"As things stand, we've now almost got the championship in the bag through our own efforts," said a relieved Herbert Handlos after the second of two ADAC GT Masters races at the Sachsenring. Just like overall winners Kelvin van der Linde and René Rast, the Austrian and his TONINO Team Herberth partner Alfred Renauer in their Porsche 911 GT3 R made it two wins out of two on the weekend. The destination of the title will not, however, be known until the finale at Hockenheim. This is because Handlos's closest pursuer, Dominic Jöst sharing another TONINO Team Herberth Porsche 911 GT3 R with Florian Scholze, finished second. This meant that Handlos was able to extend his lead by a mere three points. But he can settle the matter in the first of the two races at Hockenheim, as his lead is currently 88.5 points and the maximum that Jöst can score is 100.

Handlos and Renauer drove a start-to-finish victory. At the mandatory pit stop, Renauer handed over the Porsche with the class lead. Handlos mastered the difficult conditions in the second half of the race and crossed the finish line 20 seconds ahead of second-placed Jöst.

Handlos adopted a safety first strategy: "It was very difficult with slicks on the wet track. We raced with only success in the Gentlemen category in mind and were not competing for points overall. I even let three other cars pass me without a fight, because I didn't want to take any risks. It's better that way before someone gets nervous and there's a big collision."

The Porsche driven by Jöst and Scholze had been in third place for the first half of the race, but as the track got wetter, Jöst used the superior traction of the Porsche to overtake the second-placed Callaway Competition Corvette driven by Remo Lips. Nathan Wolf and Anton Wossos in yet another Porsche 911 GT3 R, this one entered by GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport, secured third place ahead of the Callaway Competition Corvette driven by Toni Seiler and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen.

"We stayed out in the rain on slicks in the second stint of the race, and as conditions got wetter, we went faster," said a well-satisfied Jöst. "The car hugged the track extremely well, and I posted very fast times, even in the difficult conditions. But unfortunately, Alfred and Herbert were too far in front for me to catch them."

Scholze had the easier job on Sunday, with the track still being relatively dry: "The start was action-packed, so I took things carefully on the first corner. I was well able to keep up with the field until the driver changeover. We then hit the jackpot in the rain, as our Porsche is fantastic in such conditions."

After two third-place finishes, Remo Lips is still upbeat about his chances in the finale at Hockenheim: "Slicks didn't make me feel at all confident in the rain. It was very tricky. I almost spun off twice, so I decided to get the car safely across the finish line. I'll go on the offensive again in Hockenheim."