Season starts under palm trees: For several ADAC GT Masters contestants, the 24 Hours of Daytona in Florida last weekend was a perfect opportunity to limber up for the forthcoming campaign. The most successful of the Super Sports Car League contingent in this long-distance classic, now into its 52nd year, was Markus Winkelhock. The ex-Formula 1 and DTM driver took the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS entered by an American team and fought hard until the last lap for victory in the GTD class (GT3 sports cars), losing out only narrowly to a Ferrari.

Also competing in the class for GT3 cars was Denmark's Christina Nielsen who holds the 2013 ADAC GT Masters Gentlemen title. In her first venture into 24-hour racing, she shared the cockpit of a Porsche with Kuba Giermaziak and Porsche Supercup champion Nicki Thiim, finishing the race in ninth. "Daytona was my first real 24-hour race, and just to have crossed the finish line is quite an achievement in itself," said a delighted Christina Nielsen.

One driver not enjoying the best of luck was former ADAC GT Masters champion Christopher Haase partnered by René Rast in an Audi R8 fielded by a local outfit. Having put his R8 in pole position for the class, a leaking radiator dropped him down the finishing order to 16th. He did at least have the small consolation of setting the fastest race lap in the largest and most competitive of the Daytona classes. After winning the 24 Hours of Dubai earlier in the month, Porsche man Christian Engelhart will have been disappointed to finish back in P21 following a sequence of technical problems and an excursion off track.

Four-time ADAC GT Masters race winner Nick Tandy, who has recently been recruited as a Porsche works driver, had cause to celebrate after winning the GTLM class in a Porsche 911 RSR. Tandy finished just ahead of his ADAC GT Masters rival from the 2012 season, Maxime Martin, who claimed the runner-up spot in a BMW Z4 shared with DTM drivers Joey Hand (current) and Andy Priaulx (former). Farnbacher Racing principal Dominik Farnbacher driving an SRT Viper came third in the GTLM class.