Continuity and a new highlight. The ADAC GT Masters has an exciting racing calendar scheduled for its tenth season. The Super Sports Car League will line up for seven race weekends in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands during 2016. The joint appearance of the ADAC GT Masters and the DTM at the Lausitzring on the first weekend in June will be one of the highlights of the year. For the first time since 2008, the two most popular German car racing series will appear together at a race weekend. In addition, all five race tracks in Germany -etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Sachsenring, Lausitzring, Nürburgring and Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg - will again form part of the racing calendar along with the Red Bull Ring in Austria, and the Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands. SPORT1 will broadcast all ADAC GT Masters races live and in full in 2016.
The 2016 season will open in the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, as is the tradition. For the ninth time in a row, the ADAC GT Masters will start the new season at Oschersleben on the weekend of April 15th-17th. The Super Sports Car League will head to the roller-coaster Sachsenring circuit two weeks later, April 29th-May 1st. The third race weekend will take place in conjunction with the DTM at the Lausitzring from June 3rd-5th. The first of two fixtures outside of Germany will take place at the Red Bull Ring from July 22nd-24th and mark the season mid-point before the fifth race weekend of the season opens at the Nürburgring August 5th-7th. The penultimate round will be staged at Zandvoort on the Dutch North Sea coast from August 19th-21st. The finale is scheduled to take place at the Hockenheimring for the sixth consecutive year from September 30th-October 2nd. An official pre-season test in Oschersleben completes the 2016 ADAC GT Masters calendar.
ADAC Formula 4, which enjoyed a very successful launch this year and will be on the support programme at all 2016 ADAC GT Masters rounds. The new ADAC TCR Germany will also be part of the line-up at most ADAC GT Masters weekends.
Many new, spectacular supercars like the Mercedes-AMG GT3, BMW M6 GT3 and new models of Audi R8, Porsche 911 and Corvette will be eligible to enter the ADAC GT Masters next year and make the series even more interesting. The balance of power will be used to ensure that there is equality of opportunity between the supercars of the new generation and cars fielded in 2015. Prize money in the 2016 ADAC GT Masters will be increased to 500,000 euros. Enrolment for the new season opens online on the www.adac.de/gt-masters website, Monday, November 16th, 2015.
"A superb race calendar with the joint ADAC GT Masters/DTM highlight at Lausitzring and prize money which sets a new record in ADAC GT Masters will make this a worthy tenth anniversary season," said ADAC Sport President Hermann Tomczyk.
"Once again this coming season, we can offer fans and drivers a firm calendar with attractive and established events. For the third consecutive year, all the race tracks used previously form an integral part of the calendar. We intend to put on a motor racing feast for fans at Lausitzring with the ADAC GT Masters and the DTM on the same bill," said ADAC Director of Motorsport and Classic Motoring, Lars Soutschka.
SPORT1 will broadcast all next year's ADAC GT Masters races live and in full on free-to-air TV. Germany's leading sports broadcaster extended the TV contract up to and including 2017 before it was due for renewal.
Race schedule and venues for the 2016 ADAC GT Masters
15/04 - 17/04/2016 etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
29/04 - 01/05/2016 Sachsenring
03/06 - 05/06/2016 Lausitzring
22/07 - 24/07/2016 Red Bull Ring/Austria
05/08 - 07/08/2016 Nürburgring
19/08 - 21/08/2016 Circuit Park Zandvoort/Netherlands
30/09 - 02/10/2016 Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg