Luca Ludwig faces a new challenge this year. After a season with only one sortie in the ADAC GT Masters, the seven-time race winner is now lining up in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 with newcomers BKK MOBIL OIL Team Zakspeed. Ludwig, team-mate Alon Day and the Mercedes-Benz team have recently shown a big improvement in performance. While a P5 at the Lausitzring was previously their best result of the season, they achieved two sixth places at the Red Bull Ring.

Ludwig commented after eight of 16 races: "I´m not unhappy with our showing in the first half of the ADAC GT Masters season. We´ve come along nicely and made a lot of progress. We only had a short time in which to prepare the entire project prior to the start of the season at Oschersleben. We also lacked empirical data due to the tight schedule on race weekends and the first four events taking place every two weeks. However, we´re doing very well compared to other new entrants in the ADAC GT Masters. In no other European GT3 series is the standard as high as in the ADAC GT Masters, which must also be taken into account."

Ludwig is not only a racing driver for BKK MOBIL OIL Zakspeed but is also involved in getting things organised within the team, as far as time permits while still studying for his law degree. Ludwig: "I´m a racing driver at the track, just like anyone else, and am focused solely on my driving. In between race weekends, though, I like to get involved with the team, which is very important to me. To give you an example, I was the one who designed our racing overalls and the car in the run-up to the start of the season and have ideas of my own to contribute as well where organisational matters are concerned."

Ludwig has set himself a definite target for the second half of the season of the ADAC GT Masters which begins on the weekend of August 8th-10th at the Slovakia Ring near Bratislava in Slovakia: "We aim to continue the upward trend from the first half of the season and finish on the podium. Of course, we had hoped for a podium in the first half of the season, but you have to be realistic. Winning a race is very tricky but certainly not impossible. My team-mate Alon Day is super quick and does an excellent job. The support we receive from Mercedes AMG at the track is fantastic and BKK MOBIL OIL sponsor us in a superb manner, and it´s certainly thanks to them that ours is one of the most distinctive sports car in the field."

Ludwig is especially looking forward to his home race at the Nürburgring and the finale at Hockenheim during the second half of the season: "The field is so tightly bunched in the ADAC GT Masters that it´s practically impossible to make any predictions, but I think we have a chance of securing a decent result, particularly at the Nürburgring and in Hockenheim. Our goal for the second half of the season is to improve in qualifying. Our race pace is always excellent, but we´ve generally been around two tenths of a second adrift so far in the quali. If we can find those vital tenths and finish in the Top Eight in qualifying, then I think we´ve got a good chance of securing podiums."