A Porsche and a Corvette decided the top two places between themselves both in the first and in the second qualifying session for the two ADAC GT Masters races at the Motorsport Festival Lausitzring. Robert Renauer (31, DEU, Precote Herberth Motorsport) in the Porsche 911 and Patrick Assenheimer (24, DEU, Callaway Competition) in a Corvette C7 booked the slots on the front row for Saturday's race, while the positions are reversed for the grid in Sunday's race: Assenheimer's Corvette team-mate Dominik Schwager (39, DEU) will start the race ahead of Martin Ragginger (28, A), who is sharing the drive in the Porsche with Renauer. SPORT1 will broadcast the two races live on free-to-air TV, starting at 13:00 on both days.
Qualifying 1 for the race on Saturday
Team Precote Herberth Motorsport confirmed their good showing from the morning's free practice sessions by taking pole position for the first of two races at the Lausitzring. At the wheel of the Porsche 911, Robert Renauer posted best time of 1.22.103 minutes to secure his second pole position in the ADAC GT Masters. "It really has been going extremely well all weekend," said Renauer. "Of course, we knew that the Lausitzring track layout would suit us much better than, let's say, the Sachsenring for example, but a pole is always something special and a great starting position for the race."
Patrick Assenheimer (24, DEU, Callaway Competition) in his Corvette C7 will start next to Renauer on the front row for the first time. The third fastest lap was posted by Jesse Krohn (25, FIN) in the BMW M6 fielded by Schubert Motorsport. Positions four, five and six were all taken by Lamborghinis. Both Rolf Ineichen (38, CH), who booked a slot on the second row as a Trophy class driver, and Luca Stolz (20, DEU, both GRT Grasser-Racing-Team) and Norbert Siedler (33, A, HB Racing WDS BAU) drove the Huracán.
Qualifying 2 for the race on Sunday
In the second race against the clock, Dominik Schwager, Callaway Competition team-mate of Patrick Assenheimer, set a best time of 1.21.613 minutes in the Corvette C7. "Of the three weekends so far, I would say that the Lausitzring has been the best," said Schwager after claiming the fourth pole position of his ADAC GT Masters career. "At Oschersleben, everything was new, and at the Sachsenring, we had grip problems right from the start. But in the ADAC GT Masters, it always depends on getting a perfect lap on the timesheets - and that's what I've managed to do here. We already noticed in the free practice sessions that we have a very good basis, but it's difficult to predict where you're going to end up later. I had expected us to be somewhere among the Top Six or Top Eight. This has been a strong performance by the entire team. I now hope that Patrick (Assenheimer) and I can make good use of our strong starting positions in the actual races."
Also qualifying well forward for Sunday's race were Precote Herberth Motorsport, with Martin Ragginger starting alongside Schwager on the front row. And as Daniel Keilwitz (26, DEU) qualified third, Callaway Competition have yet another of their drivers strategically placed. Christian Engelhart (29, DEU) matched the result achieved by his team-mate Rolf Ineichen, booking the fourth slot on the grid for his GRT Lamborghini. Porsche newcomer Matteo Cairoli (20, I, KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard) did exceptionally well on his ADAC GT Masters debut to qualify sixth, just behind championship leader Christopher Mies (27, DEU) in a Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8.
Fans wishing to experience the ADAC GT Masters live at the racetrack can purchase tickets for all fixtures for the price of 20 euros, which includes access to the paddock, from www.adac.de/motorsport.