Connor De Phillippi (Montaplast by Land Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), winner: “The car was really fantastic in the final stages. We increased the air pressure during the pit stop, which paid off. The Audi was then very strong, especially under braking, which allowed me to gain some positions. I am very happy for the team. Our race engineer has a birthday today, and this win is the perfect gift.”
Christopher Mies (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), winner: “That was hard day’s work. We had gambled on drying conditions and lowered the air pressure before the start. When we then set off on the formation lap, I just thought, oops, that was probably not the right choice. There was a lot of aquaplaning. For the first few laps, I was simply trying to survive out there. Towards the end of my stint, the car was getting better, and I was able to hand it over in sixth place. It’s a success that’s been a long time coming.”
Jeffrey Schmidt (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P2 in the general classification and winner in the Junior class: “I’ve got mixed emotions looking back on that race. We had a great strategy at the pit stop, which brought us out in front. I also love to drive in the rain, especially here in Zandvoort where it’s really fun. Two of my restarts were great, but on the last one, I was a bit too careful, because I thought that there was more water on the track than there looked to be. That allowed Connor to get past. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any further opportunity of getting P1 back after that.”
Christopher Haase (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P2 in the general classification and winner in the Junior class: “We can be very satisfied with our team getting this one-two finish. It’s very nice for the whole team. I had a lot of aquaplaning at the start of the race. It wasn’t easy out there, especially under braking. But everything turned out OK in the end.”
Christopher Zanella (Team HB Racing, Lamborghini Huracán GT3), P3 in the general classification: “We weren’t expecting the rain to get so heavy during the early stage of the race. It was very difficult at the start, because I couldn’t see much through the windscreen. But at least I managed to gain some places. When I handed over to Florian, we were in seventh place. Florian then finished the race in style.”
Florian Spengler (Team HB Racing, Lamborghini Huracán GT3), P3 in the general classification: “From 17th on the grid to the podium – simply mega. We had hoped for rain, but then it turned out to be heavier than expected. Chris drove superbly well and ultimately finished seventh. I don’t know how this happened, but after the pit stops, I suddenly found myself in fourth place. And then the penalty for the Corvette even moved us up to third. I became a father last week and am now on the podium for the first time in the ADAC GT Masters – I feel like I’ve taken wings.”
Robert Renauer (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P4 in the general classification: “Unfortunately, we didn’t quite have enough for third place. But after starting from 18th on the grid, our P4 is a fantastic achievement, and I am more than satisfied with the performance of Sven and my entire team.”
Mathieu Jaminet (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P5 in the general classification: “Fifth place from 15th on the grid – what an excellent race. I had some good scraps, and our pit stop was almost perfect. We were not the fastest this weekend but took points for P8 and P5. Many thanks to everyone in the team for doing an incredible job. We now hope to secure more points in the next few races, and I also intend to finish on the podium again.”
Michael Ammermüller (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P5 in the general classification: “A tough race in the rain. It wasn’t easy to keep the car on the track, because there was so much water. Starting from where I did in the middle of the field, you could see practically nothing to begin with, but I didn’t make any mistakes. The safety car coming out as we swapped drivers was just perfect. We were among the fastest and moved up a few places. Mathieu drove a great race, was quick, kept up with the front-runners and got the car over the line. We can be extremely satisfied that we were actually only a second too slow the whole weekend.”
Jules Gounon (Callaway Competition, Corvette C7 GT3-R), P6 in the general classification and P2 in the Junior class: “The drive-through penalty was most unfortunate. I had problems with the clutch and had to set off in second gear after the driver handover. But we’ve got no pit-limiter in that gear, and I drove a bit too fast in the pit lane. It doesn’t often happen that we finish sixth despite a penalty and dropping down the field to P11. However, we could have done even better, because we were in second place at one point. Still, all things considered, we’ve had a great weekend with the win yesterday.”
Renger van der Zande (Callaway Competition, Corvette C7 GT3-R), P6 in the general classification and P2 in the Junior class: “It was extremely slippery over the first few laps. I had to find out first which setting to use for the ABS and traction control. I had more confidence in the car after that and was able to attack. I pulled off some great overtaking moves. It was good fun. Too bad that Jules had a problem, otherwise, we would have been back on the podium. I’m very pleased that I was able to help the team secure points towards the championship.”
Patric Niederhauser (Aust Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P7 in the general classification and P3 in the Junior class: “The start was frantic. I just tried to stay on the track and not spin off, as I kept aquaplaning. Unfortunately, we lost some places during the pit stop, because we were boxed in. Still, we scored points and took a podium in the Junior class, so to sum up, I would say I definitely feel quite positive about the outcome.”
Dennis Marschall (Aust Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P7 in the general classification and P3 in the Junior class: “I’m pleased to have achieved a podium in the Junior class, given that it’s such a strong field of drivers. However, I feel we could have got much more out of the race, certainly a place in the Top Five, but unfortunately, we made the wrong choice of wet-weather tyres. When we realised that we weren’t as fast as the others, we made it our objective to stay on the track and gain from the mistakes of others.”
Remo Lips (MRS GT-Racing, Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3), winner in Trophy class: “The race went well for us. We’ve often failed to finish in the past. Conditions just now were extremely tough, but somehow we’ve seen the chequered flag this time!”
Marc Gassner (MRS GT-Racing, Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3), winner in Trophy class: “Obviously, a class victory is magnificent. I haven’t raced for almost a year, so it wasn’t easy to return to a track like Zandvoort – especially in the conditions we’ve had today. We kept out of trouble, and our pace was very good in the rain.”
Maximilian Götz (Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), DNF: “The neighbouring team completely boxed us in with their Audi, so we had to shunt backwards and forwards in order to be able to set off again after the stop. It’s obvious that things can get a bit tight in such a situation, but I was furious. We lost more than five seconds.”