After experiencing bad luck in Race 1 at the Red Bull Ring, Herbert Handlos in a TONINO Team Herberth Porsche 911 GT3 R staged an impressive comeback on Sunday with win number six to consolidate his class lead. The Austrian actually managed to profit from the misfortune of others this time, namely Callaway Corvette drivers Toni Seiler and Remo Lips. So having now notched up six class wins in eight races, Handlos emerges as unofficial 'half-time champion' at this midway point in the ADAC GT Masters season.

During the first stint of today's race, the Corvettes driven by pro drivers Jeroen Bleekemolen and Lennart Marioneck looked to have the category sewn up for their amateur team-mates Seiler and Lips. But then a safety car deployment as the pit stop window was opening had a dramatic effect on the race order when Bleekemolen got stuck behind a stranded Chevrolet Camaro as they were both serving five-second penalties for infringements off the starting line.

Following the driver changeover, Toni Seiler resumed the race in third place behind Remo Lips and Herbert Handlos. But when Lips had to make an unscheduled pit stop to secure a loose component on his Corvette, Handlos inherited the lead and subsequently cruised home ahead of Seiler. Dominic Jöst (TONINO Team Herberth), partnered for the first time by Stefan Wackerbauer at the Red Bull Ring, finished third in the class.

Handlos was understandably delighted to have scored a win in his home race: "After the disappointment of yesterday, we benefited from good fortune today. Yesterday, we were out of luck, whereas today it was the turn of the others. These things have a habit of balancing themselves out. A nice way to round off the weekend."

Jöst was more than happy to settle for a podium after trailing the field at the midway point: "Stefan got off to a really good start, but then our engineer didn't call us in for our pit stop when the safety car came out. That cost us all the places we had gained, and we emerged from the pit stop in second-to-last position."

At the halfway stage of the season, Handlos tops the table ahead of Porsche 911 GT3 R pairing Wolf Nathan and Anton Wossos who finished today's race in fourth position.