All good things come in threes. With their latest win at Zandvoort, David Jahn (25, DEU) and Kévin Estre (27, F, both KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard) have now triumphed on three successive Saturdays in the ADAC GT Masters. At the finish, the Porsche partnership crossed the line just ahead of the Audi R8 driven by Connor De Phillippi (23, USA) and Christopher Mies (27, DEU, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) by the narrow margin of 1.245 seconds. David Jahn, who has now reduced his deficit in the title chase to 18 points, was jubilant: "What an incredible record! We've won three out of six races on Saturday. I cannot believe it." The podium was completed by the Porsche pairing of Robert Renauer (31, DEU) and Martin Ragginger (28, A, both Precote Herberth Motorsport).
Race outcome decided by pit stops
Perfect pit strategy was the key to this third win of the season for Kévin Estre and David Jahn. Jahn handed the Porsche over to his French team-mate Estre lying in fourth place, just as the pit stop window opened in the middle of the race. The Porsche works driver then posted a series of fast lap times so that, by the end of the mandatory round of pit stops, he found himself in front of the Audi of De Phillippi and Mies which had started from pole position and had led the race during the first stint. Mies put pressure on the leading Porsche until the very end but ultimately had to admit defeat. P2 was at least good enough for Mies and De Phillippi to win the Junior classification for drivers under 25 years. Robert Renauer (31, DEU) and Martin Ragginger (28, A, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) finished third, 11.447 seconds adrift.
The contest for the ADAC GT Masters title has developed into a real thriller thanks to the result of this first of two races in the Netherlands. With three races still to run in the 2016 ADAC GT Masters, De Phillippi and Mies are level on points with Jules Gounon (21, F) and Daniel Keilwitz (27, DEU, both Callaway Competition), who brought their Corvette home in eighth place. Jahn, who races for the team fielded by sports car champion Timo Bernhard and his father Rüdiger, now joins the ranks of title contenders with his third win of the season. He is 18 points behind the joint leaders in third place.
Last year's ADAC Formula 4 champion Marvin Dienst (19, DEU) and Christopher Zanella (26, CH, both bigFM Racing Team Schütz Motorsport) in a Porsche 911 achieved their best result of the season by taking fourth place from the Audi R8 driven by Frédéric Vervisch (30, B) and Christopher Haase (28, DEU, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport). They all benefited from the engine problems suffered by the fourth-placed Bentley Continental of Fabian Hamprecht (21, DEU) and Christer Jöns (29, DEU, both Bentley Team ABT) shortly before the finish. The Bentley duo eventually finished sixth.
The best-placed Lamborghini of Norbert Siedler (33, A) and Jaap van Lagen (39, NL, both HB Racing WDS BAU) came home in P7. The Top Ten was completed by the BMW M6 of Jesse Krohn (25, FIN) and Louis Delétraz (19, CH, both Schubert Motorsport) in ninth position, who finished ahead of Jordan Pepper (20, ZA) and Daniel Abt (23, Germany, both Bentley Team ABT) in the second Bentley.
Reigning champions Sebastian Asch (30, DEU) and Luca Ludwig (27, DEU, both AMG Team Zakspeed) qualified their Mercedes-AMG GT in second place but suffered a bitter blow in their battle to retain the title. Asch had been on course to take a podium in the first stint of the race, but technical problems in the second half brought an early end to their race. By way of contrast, Remo Lips (33, CH) and Sven Barth (35, DEU, both RWT Racing) in a Corvette Z06.R had good reason to celebrate after winning the Trophy classification with 13th place. Lips took over the lead in the Trophy standings with his first victory in class of the current season.
Comments from the winners
David Jahn (KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard, Porsche 911): "Unbelievable - I'm totally proud to be a member of this team. I cannot believe how fast we have risen up the championship. Thinking back to the Spielberg weekend, I was 16th in the standings. Now I'm in with a real chance. At the Nürburgring, we finished third in the Sunday race. Also a respectable result. We'll now keep going at full throttle and give it our best shot tomorrow."
Kévin Estre (KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard, Porsche 911): "That was a really cool race. David got off to a good start and didn't take any risks. The strategy of the team to come in after the safety car period was very good. I then tried to push hard on the first two or three laps to leave the Audi and the other Porsche behind me. From then on, I aimed to control the race. That wasn't easy, because this track is very hard on the rear tyres. I was struggling with a lot of oversteer and wasn't sure if the tyres would hold up. We now have to make sure qualifying goes well tomorrow. If we manage to do that, a lot will then be possible."
Access to the standing areas on the dune embankments is a free of charge with a special Dunes Ticket. This is available for download from www.cpz.nl. Grandstand tickets, including paddock access, start at 20 euros and can be purchased from www.adac.de/motorsport.