Hard-fought battles and thrilling overtaking manoeuvres in hot temperatures of 31 degrees: The ADAC GT Masters returned from its summer break with an exciting race and a heated battle at the Slovakia Ring near Bratislava. The two BMW Z4s prepared by PIXUM Team Schubert dominated the race as track temperatures reached almost 50 degrees. Claudia Hürtgen (42, Germany) and Dominik Baumann (21, Austria) took the win from team-mates Max Sandritter (25, Germany) and Jens Klingmann (25, Germany). There were wild scenes after the race as third-placed David Jahn (23, Germany) and Sven Barth (33, Germany / both RWT Racing Team) jumped for joy at having achieved their maiden podium in the Corvette. On his way to his second victory of the season, Baumann got the jitters again over the final few kilometres. "There was another safety car period shortly before the end of the race and I was very worried because we had two Corvettes close behind us, but we made a success of the restart and everything worked out well down to the final couple of metres."
Jahn takes lead at the start
Jahn used the raw power of the American muscle car at the start to take the lead in the first turn from the BMW of Hürtgen and pole-sitter Sandritter. Jahn defended his P1 until the mandatory pit stop. However, after the driver changeover, team-mate Barth had to slot into third place behind the two BMWs, which were driven by Baumann and Klingman in the second half of the race. The BMWs were well on their way to a double victory when the safety car came out with 20 minutes left on the clock, bringing an element of tension into the closing stages of the race. After a contact between the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG driven by Maximilian Götz (28 Germany / HTP Motorsport) and ex-Formula 1 driver Jaime Alguersuari (24, Spain / ROWE Racing) the Spaniard's Gullwing had to be recovered from the gravel bed.
Baumann kept a cool head at the restart after the safety car period, crossing the finish line with a narrow lead of 0.6 seconds on Klingmann. Hürtgen was thrilled to bits with her seventh victory in the ADAC GT Masters: "I was wondering last night how best to get through the first turn and it went well in the end. There was no chance of attacking the Corvette, so I focused on nursing the car for Dominik. The team have earned their place at the top, as everyone worked very hard during the summer break. We took part in all the tests and posted the most laps of any team. Success has eventually come our way and we've taken a well deserved win."
Title defender Keilwitz stays in championship race by finishing fourth
The Corvettes of Jahn/Barth and Andreas Wirth (29, Germany)/Daniel Keilwitz (25, Germany / Callaway Competition) came home in third and fourth place behind the two BMWs.
Christian Engelhart (27, Germany) and Jaap van Lagen (37, Netherlands / GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport) placed fifth in the Porsche 911, enabling van Lagen, who is currently second in the standings, to take two points out of championship leaders, Kelvin van der Linde (18, South Africa) / René Rast (27, Germany / Prosperia C Abt Racing). The Prosperia C Abt duo had clawed their way up the field in the Audi R8 from grid position 13 to P6.
The battle for the remaining points was hard-fought over the final laps. Jan Seyffarth (28, Germany) / Maro Engel (28, Germany / both ROWE Racing) brought their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG home in seventh place ahead of the Chevrolet Camaro of Albert von Thurn und Taxis (29, Germany) / Tomas Enge (37, Czech Republic / both Reiter Engineering). Luca Ludwig (25, Germany) and Alon Day (22, Israel / BKK MOBIL OIL Zakspeed) took ninth place in another Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG from the Corvette of Patrick Assenheimer (22, Germany) / Diego Alessi (42 Italy / both Callaway Competition), who dropped down to the rear of the field on the first lap after a spin and yet still finished the race in tenth position.
Lauda unlucky on ADAC GT Masters premiere
Mathias Lauda (33, Austria) had a realistic chance of a top result in the Mercedes-Benz in his first ADAC GT Masters race. Luca Stolz (19, Germany / both HTP Motorsport), team-mate to the ex-DTM driver, took the first stint and was placed fourth until a damaged tyre bumped the Gullwing down the field. Lauda finished the race in P19.
New winner in Gentlemen category
Remo Lips (32, Switzerland) and ADAC Sports Foundation protégé driver Lennart Marioneck (25, Germany / both Callaway Competition) achieved their first victory of the season in the Gentlemen class in an exciting finish to the race. With two laps to go, Marioneck took the lead in class from Robert Renauer (29, Germany), who was partnering the leader in the Gentlemen standings Herbert Handlos (31, Austria / both TONINO Team Herberth) for the first time at the Slovakia Ring in the Porsche 911. Marioneck took the Corvette to a comfortable first win of the season. Handlos had to settle for second place ahead of Florian Scholze (35, Germany) / Dominic Jöst (41, Germany/ both TONINO Team Herberth) in another Porsche 911.
PIXUM Team Schubert have excellent chance of making this a perfect weekend
The two BMW Z4s prepared by PIXUM Team Schubert that have so far dominated the ADAC GT Masters race weekend at the Slovakia Ring have an excellent chance of success in the second race on Sunday (live on kabel eins, from 11.45 am onwards). Klingmann starts from pole position ahead of Baumann, followed by the Corvette of defending champion Keilwitz and the Chevrolet Camaro with ex-Formula 1 driver Enge.