From India to the ADAC GT Masters: Audi driver Aditya Patel had the longest journey of all Super Sports Car League contestants in 2013. "The flight from India to Frankfurt takes around ten hours," says Patel, who shared the cockpit of an MS RACING Audi R8 LMS ultra with Daniel Dobitsch last year. "Hockenheim and the Nürburgring were quite convenient to get to, but some of the other circuits involved up to 20 hours of travel. Between some of the races, though, I stayed in Europe and didn't make the flight back."

Patel has now got used to commuting between India and Germany. The 25-year-old from Chennai (formerly Madras) in south-east India has been racing in Germany since 2009. After one season in the Volkswagen Polo Cup, he then switched to the Volkswagen Scirocco Cup for two terms and competed in several races on the Nürburgring North Loop. In 2013, he was recruited by MS RACING to drive one of their Audi R8 LMS ultras in the ADAC GT Masters. Although the young Indian already knew about the Super Sports Car League, he confesses to having been somewhat surprised after his first outing: "The level of competition was incredibly high. The ADAC GT Masters attracts the best GT drivers in Europe, and it was definitely a lot tougher than I had expected."

On the third race weekend at the Sachsenring, Patel notched up his first points finish. Together with team-mate Dobitsch, he came sixth on this challenging rollercoaster of a circuit in Saxony. "We had our ups and downs during the season, but I think I can be happy with my first ADAC GT Masters campaign. Working with MS RACING was great - I really enjoyed every minute. MS RACING are by far the most focused team I have ever driven for. I was able to learn a lot from my clearly more experienced team-mate, and I'm proud that I was able to match him for pace."

Patel's debut season in the ADAC GT Masters ended on a high note: "On the final weekend at Hockenheim, we made a total mess of qualifying. Then we made some changes for the second race, and everything just clicked into place. We started from 18th on the grid and finished seventh. Not a bad result to round off the season."

Patel is currently working on a deal to secure his continued involvement in the ADAC GT Masters. "I'm talking to various sponsors at the moment, and if all goes well, the ADAC GT Masters will once again be my first choice for the coming season."