Jules Gounon (Callaway Competition, Corvette C7 GT3-R), winner in the general classification and in the Junior class: "We've finally won our first race of the season. The Callaway team put in a magnificent shift. This track suits the Corvette incredibly well. It's almost as if the car had been built specifically for this circuit. I am very happy. At the start, I had a terrific scrap with Lucas Auer. It was a lot of fun. It felt great knowing I'd kept him behind me."
Daniel Keilwitz (Callaway Competition, Corvette C7 GT3-R), winner in the general classification and in the Junior class: "We are mega happy. It was a great race for us. Our objective was to win a race here this weekend, and that's precisely what we did. Jules did a super job. He defended first place from pole position, so that all I had to do in the end was more or less manage the lead. Even with the restarts after the two safety car deployments, everything went well. Tomorrow we intend to score a lot of points again. Then things would look really good for us in the championship."
Sven Barth (RWT Racing, Corvette C7 GT3-R), P2 in the general classification and winner in the Trophy class: "We are more than satisfied. As at the Lausitzring, we started from P4, only this time we didn't make any mistakes. I laid the groundwork and Maximilian drove fantastically well towards the end. Everything was perfect."
Maximilian Hackländer (RWT Racing, Corvette C7 GT3-R), P2 in the general classification and winner in the Trophy class: "I am very happy to have had my first ever podium finish in such a strong GT race series. This time, we at last managed to extract the maximum from our decent grid position. After the first safety car deployment and restart, my pursuers were fighting among themselves, which made it a bit easier for me."
Ricky Collard (BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M6 GT3), P3 in the general classification and second in the Junior class: "I had a lot of fun today. Philipp drove magnificently and pulled off some great overtaking moves - for one of them, he even had two tyres on the grass. I continue to learn from race to race, and I'm constantly improving."
Philipp Eng (BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M6 GT3), P3 in the general classification and second in the Junior class: "It was an exciting race. Ricky drove a super first stint. He made the position his own and executed a super overtaking manoeuvre. We brought him in relatively early for the driver changeover. Our guys made absolutely the right decision during the stop to keep the car short while longer. We lost two seconds and four or five places, but otherwise we would have been judged to have made an unsafe release. I really had to scramble to win those positions back. Towards the end, I had a great scrap with Luca Ludwig and Sebastian Asch - everything was fair, everything was cool. I'm so pleased that we made it onto the podium in our home race."
Lucas Auer (BWT Mücke Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P4 in the general classification: "It was a superb day: we qualified second, and I handed the car over in second place. In the end, though, the BMW still got past Sebastian. That's nothing new in racing. I am still very happy with my debut and with fourth place."
Sebastian Asch (BWT Mücke Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P4 in the general classification: "Unfortunately, we lost 1.9 seconds on the pit stop, and we need to analyse the reason for that. It meant that we dropped back from P2 to P3. At the restart, I simply couldn't hold off the challenge from the BMW. The team has given us a fantastic car, and they really deserved a podium for that today. As long as we finish in the Top Four tomorrow, we can feel really pleased with ourselves. I would have loved to be up there on the podium today, but maybe that will happen tomorrow."
Luca Stolz (Mercedes-AMG Team ZAKSPEED, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P5 in the general classification and third in the Junior class: "We drove an error-free race while some of the other teams were dropped down the field by penalties. We gained a few places as a result. However, P5 was the maximum. We've got to work at doing even better."
Luca Ludwig (Mercedes-AMG Team ZAKSPEED, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P5 in the general classification and third in the Junior class: "We're not too dissatisfied. Ten points are ten points after all, but it was a tough race for us. It wasn't possible to progress any further forward, so the result is fine."
Maximilian Götz (Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P6 in the general classification: "It was an exciting race with some good passing manoeuvres. A pity that it was not quite enough for P5 in the end. I had hoped to perhaps catch Ludwig, but still, we can be very satisfied. The car ran really well, and our pit crew performed a sensational stop. I'll try to secure a good grid position tomorrow morning in qualifying, and then we'll mount another all-out assault in Race 2."
Mathieu Jaminet (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P7 in the general classification: "We can be satisfied with P7. You could see in the race that it wasn't possible to finish any higher. My start was okay, and I could even overtake, but then two cars in front of me ran into the gravel. I made a small mistake and lost two places but got one back. We then had a really good pit stop. The penalties handed to others put us in fifth place."
Michael Ammermüller (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P7 in the general classification: "We were a bit further up the field following our good pit stop, but then the BMW overtook me. He was a lot faster, and I couldn't hold him off. Then I fought for a while with a Mercedes that was also a bit faster than me. I had to defend myself. The BMW and the Mercedes finally got into a bit of a tussle. I was on the inside, but then another Mercedes muscled past me on the outside, as I couldn't brake late, because of the guy in front, so I lost a position. But basically, we're happy. It's looking good for tomorrow."
Marvin Kirchhöfer (Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P13 in the general classification: "That went all wrong. We showed that we've got the speed to compete up front. Our pit stop strategy was pretty good in actual fact. We came out just ahead of the Zakspeed car. Unfortunately, we were just a bit too early exiting the pit lane. Very annoying, but we'll just have to draw a line under it and attack again in Race 2. The car felt terrific. I think a great deal might be possible tomorrow."
Christopher Friedrich (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P14 in the general classification and P6 in the Junior class: "It was an action-packed race. We didn't know at times which position we were in. To finish 14th is obviously good. We're still a bit down on speed, but we're working on it. Let's see how things go tomorrow!"
Adrien de Leener (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P14 in the general classification and P6 in the Junior class: "The start was all right. I then had a few good scraps that maybe got a bit too heavy at times. But the pace was OK - it was the maximum. Chris did a great job, the time penalties gained us two more places. We're quite happy with P14."