Intense wheel-to-wheel action, exciting slipstream duels and the fifth winner in as many races. On the third weekend of the 2015 ADAC GT Masters at Spa Francorchamps, Jens Klingmann (24, GER) and Dominik Baumann (22, A) of BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert picked up their first winners' trophy of the season. Current championship leaders Sebastian Asch (29, GER) and Luca Ludwig (26, GER) in the Team Zakspeed Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG crossed the finish line 7.4 seconds behind to take second place. Luca Stolz (19, GER) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (33, NL) of Bentley Team HTP battled their way through to third place and a second ADAC GT Masters podium for a Bentley Continental. "There were some great scraps today, but we allowed ourselves plenty of space on the track," said Klingmann after winning his fifth career race. "If you can fight hard but fair - as it should be in GT racing - and come away with the win, it's incredible fun."
Klingmann thrills crowd at start
An exciting five-way battle between Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW, Audi and Bentley marked the period immediately after the start. Asch, who was on pole in the Mercedes-Benz, led from Martin Ragginger (27, A) in the GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport Porsche, while Klingmann to their rear prepared to attack in the BMW. The BMW driver did not get off the line well, dropping down to fifth place. Klingmann first overtook Stefan Wackerbauer (19, GER) in the C.Abt Racing Audi, who subsequently retired after a spin into the barriers, thereby causing a brief safety car period, before Klingmann overtook both Asch and Ragginger to go into the lead.
Once out in front, there was no stopping Klingmann. He had extended his lead to 8.8 seconds by the time he handed over the car to Baumann. After the pit stop, the Austrian had a cushion of as much as 11.1 seconds to comfortably clinch his fifth ADAC GT Masters race victory.
Klingmann: "It was important for us to at least finish this time after a difficult start to the season, including a double retirement last time out. I could see on the first lap that our car was very strong. I had to use that to my advantage and went right to the front of the field."
"I had to really watch the front tyres in the closing stages," added Baumann, "So it was good that Jens had already pulled out a decent lead in the first stint, otherwise things could have got tricky once again in the final stages. With a pairing as strong as ours, we really should have been much nearer the front in the first few races, but things are now looking up."
Bentley pair fight for podium
Asch and Ludwig extended their lead in the standings even further with second place in the Mercedes-Benz, making it four podium finishes in five races. The Bentley duo of Stolz and Bleekemolen benefited on the way to their podium from a penalty against the Porsche of Martin Ragginger and Klaus Bachler (23, A). Ragginger was handed a five-second penalty for running wide and going off track. The Porsche duo had clawed their way up into fourth by the end of the race. Claudia Hürtgen (43, GER) and Uwe Alzen (47, GER) came fifth in the BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3. The two kfzteile24 MS Racing Audi R8s driven by Daniel Dobitsch (31, A) and Edward Sandström (36, S) and by Florian Stoll (33, GER) and Marc Basseng (36, GER) finished sixth and eight respectively. They were involved in an exciting battle for position in the second stint of the race with the HP Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG driven by Hari Proczyk (39, A) and Bernd Schneider (50, GER) who managed to split the two Audis and finish seventh.
Patrick Assenheimer (23, GER) and Diego Alessi (43, I) of Callaway Competition and the RWT Racing Team pairing of Remo Lips (32, CH) and Sven Barth (34, GER) claimed the remaining Top Ten positions for Corvette. Lips thus won the Gentlemen stakes for the second time this season. Andreas Weishaupt (42, GER) in a C.Abt Racing Audi finished as runner-up in the class ahead of series newcomer Samuel Sladecka (21, SVK) in the Senkyr Motorsport BMW Z4.
The Bentley HTP pair of Clemens Schmid (24, A) and Fabian Hamprecht (19, GER) took the chequered flag in sixth place but were subsequently handed a 30-second penalty and demoted to 14th after Hamprecht collided with the YACO Racing Audi R8 of Rahel Frey (29, CH) in the final turn.
Schneider and Alzen on front row for Sunday's race
More high-octane thrills are guaranteed on Sunday when Race 2 gets underway at midday local time (live coverage on SPORT1 commencing at 11:45 CEST plus live streaming on adac.de/gt-masters). The two slots on the front row have been booked by touring car greats Bernd Schneider in a Mercedes-Benz and Uwe Alzen in a BMW. Breathing down their necks are Saturday's winner Dominik Baumann in a BMW and championship leader Ludwig in his Mercedes.