The ADAC GT Masters is beginning again, as the second half of the Super Sports Car League season gets under way at the Slovakia Ring near Bratislava on the weekend of August 8th-10th. ADAC GT Masters teams and drivers used the nine week summer break from the ADAC GT Masters to good effect – not just to undertake test drives for the second half of the season but also to contest races around the world.
- René Rast and Markus Winkelhock were the two most successful drivers during the summer. Towards the end of June, the leader in the ADAC GT Masters championship standings won the ADAC Zurich 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in the Audi R8 LMS ultra along with his ex-Formula 1 team-mate and clinched another victory last weekend at the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium, their second win in two weeks in a 24-hour race.
- Rast and Winkelhock were just two of many familiar faces at Spa, since HTP Motorsport with Maximilian Buhk and Maximilian Götz, MRS GT Racing with Florian Spengler and Marko Asmer, plus Fabian Hamprecht, Philipp Frommenwiler, Jens Klingmann, Martin Ragginger and Norbert Siedler were also in the line-up.
- René Rast is not only a fast driver in the Audi R8 LMS ultra but has other star qualities as well. Rast commentated on the first practice session of the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring for SPORT1 television.
- Mercedes-Benz driver Maro Engel was called up for duty at the Formula 1 race at the Hockenheimring, playing for Team Vettel in the charity football match between racing drivers and VIPs. The drivers beat the celebs by 3-1 in the match in which former ADAC GT Masters-pilot Sven Hannawald also made an appearance. Engel was on hand to wish his friend Nico Rosberg good luck both in Hockenheim and at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest.
- Sebastian Asch flew to North America where he lined up in the United SportsCar Championship at the legendary Watkins Glen track in New York. The trip at the end of June was successful – Asch placed third in class in a Porsche 911 GT America.
- Mario Farnbacher also competed in the same series in a Porsche. Farnbacher was not only at Watkins Glen but travelled to Canada and Indianapolis as well. His three excursions to North America in June and July resulted in two sixth places and one P16 in class, giving him sixth place overall in the championship. In between visits, Farnbacher successfully finished his educational training in Germany.
- Albert von Thurn und Taxis was another driver who made the journey to North America but his visit did not go as planned. Von Thurn und Taxis had to drop out at an early stage after an accident in Reiter Engineering´s Lamborghini Gallardo while practising for a street circuit race in Toronto, Canada.
- Rahel Frey headed east not west. Frey secured a fourth and a second place in the Audi R8 LMS Cup in Fuji, Japan, and is currently second in the standings behind ex Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong.
- Yaco Racing, Rahel Frey´s team in the ADAC GT Masters were also hard at work during the summer break. The Audi crew lined up with Charlie Geipel at Hockenheim, securing second place.
- Team kfzteil24 April Motorsport used the summer break to set up a new online website. Click on www.ms-racing-info to access the Audi squad´s new site.
- Farnbacher Racing´s Nathan Morcom made the longest journey. Morcom used the summer break of over two months to fly home to his native Australia for the first time since the end of March.
- Robert Renauer went to Holland and Italy. He secured a podium at Zandvoort in the Sprint Series along with Jaap van Lagen at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R. He achieved another podium in Mugello in the Italian GT Championship partnered by René Bourdeaux, who competed in the ADAC GT Masters last year.
- The guest drive in his homeland in the Herberth Porsche secured vital points for van Lagen in the Porsche Cup which enjoys enormous prestige worldwide as a premier series for Porsche privateers. At the mid-point in the season, van Lagen tops the Porsche Cup rankings thanks to success in the ADAC GT Masters