ADAC GT Masters·19.8.2018

ADAC GT Masters: Comments after the second race: Observations from the paddock after Sunday’s race

Mathieu Jaminet (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), overall winner: “That was a perfect day. It’s great to have at last got this first win of the season for us and for Porsche. Pole position, fastest race lap and victory – you can’t ask for more than that. Our car was very good today, and we didn’t make any mistakes. We are looking forward to the remaining races, but today, we’re going to celebrate.”

Robert Renauer (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), overall winner: “That was an amazingly happy ending to a weekend that had started problematically for us. Unfortunately, I gave the guys a lot of work on Friday. We came away from the first race empty-handed, but today we scored maximum points. The car was very, very strong. Mathieu laid the foundation for victory with his pole position. We were then able to manage our lead and control the race.”

Patrick Assenheimer (AutoArenA Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P2 overall and winner in Pirelli Junior classification: “That was a brilliant job from the whole team today. Raffaele drove a great first stint, especially the way he looked after the tyres. He knew that he wasn’t going to get past Maximilian Götz and consequently didn’t push unnecessarily. At the pit stop, he had a good inlap and I got a good outlap. When the tyres were up to temperature, I attacked. The highlight for me, of course, was the overtaking manoeuvre on the Porsche for P2. It was a very fair fight.”

Raffaele Marciello (AutoArenA Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P2 overall and winner in Pirelli Junior classification: “That was a very good day today. I got off to a clean start and didn’t lose a position. Then I tried to go easy on the tyres for the second stint. That worked out quite well. Patrick subsequently did a superb job. We can feel very satisfied with second place.”

Adrien de Leener (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P3 overall: “Unlike yesterday, we didn’t have any bad luck with red flags in qualifying today, and we were therefore able to book ourselves a decent grid position. My compliments to Klaus and to the team for such a superb car. My own stint was very difficult. The Mercedes behind me was very fast. I was impressed by the fairness of the battle for position with Patrick Assenheimer. We left each other space, and that’s how it should be done. All in all, I’m immensely happy to be standing here on the podium with Klaus.”

Klaus Bachler (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P3 overall: “What a day! The balance of our vehicle was excellent. We finished the qualifying session only one hundredth of a second off pole position, and this third place has rounded the weekend off in a most satisfactory way. I’m feeling very happy.”

Markus Pommer (Mann-Filter Team HTP Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P4 overall: “It wasn’t easy out there today. After a collision, the steering was slightly out, and we were experiencing vibrations. The car was a bit awkward to drive. But basically, it’s been a positive weekend. Maximilian Götz and I were both fast, scored decent points and took over at the top of the championship.”

Maximilian Buhk (Mann-Filter Team HTP Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P5 overall and P2 in Pirelli Junior classification: “When you start from second and ultimately finish fifth, you cannot feel satisfied. Contact with another car at the start cost me a position. But that’s OK. It’s not just me on my own entering that first corner, and you have to expect things like that to happen. Unfortunately, we lost two positions at the stop. Because the front tyres were degrading a bit too much, we decided to come in early and adjust the air pressure. Unfortunately, we found ourselves behind Patrick and Markus after they made their pit stops. Too bad, because the car was essentially good today.”

Indy Dontje (Mann-Filter Team HTP Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3), P5 overall and P2 in Pirelli Junior classification: “Fifth place was not what I’d been hoping for. But you get race weekends like this. There will be others.”

Ricardo Feller (BWT Mücke Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P6 overall and P3 in Pirelli Junior classification: “That was not such a bad weekend, actually. We were very fast in free practice but unfortunately had rather bad luck in qualifying on Saturday. But we made the best of it and progressed from 24th to finish tenth. Today, we started from eighth place and finished sixth. We can be very happy with that, even though we lost a few places at the start.”

Christopher Haase (BWT Mücke Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P6 overall and P3 in Pirelli Junior classification: “I had a really good start, but the Audi of Frédéric Vervisch in front of me didn’t get off the mark at all well. So I had to brake quite hard. I lost momentum and two places as a result. I tried to stay in touch with the leading group. I think I could have gone a bit faster than the sister car that was in front of me. Anyway, we stopped two laps later, and that’s how we got past. Ricardo finished the race brilliantly: he was faster than the cars in front of him, but overtaking is very difficult here.”

Christopher Mies (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P16 overall: “Our top performance yesterday was followed by a flop today. We made a minor error in qualifying and had to start from way back in 17th. After that, nothing went right. We had a bad start and fell further behind. We were never going to finish any higher than 16th today.”

Jan-Erik Slooten (IronForce by RING POLICE, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P18 overall and Pirelli Trophy winner: “This is definitely a result that we can live with. I emerged after the driver change behind a Land Audi which I had to follow for most of the second stint. Later on, I had a scrap with a BMW and a Mercedes-AMG. I was able to leave the BMW behind me, but not the Mercedes. But I think we can feel quite satisfied with today.”

Lucas Luhr (IronForce by RING POLICE, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P18 overall and Pirelli Trophy winner: “At the start, it was a bit tight in Turn 1, but that’s always the case here. After that, I overtook three or four cars by going past on the outside of the hairpin. Then I got stuck behind the Corvette for the rest of the stint. I kept going as long as I could and hoped that we might make progress by staying out longer. Unfortunately, that did not quite work out. But it was a reasonably satisfactory result today.”

Marc Lieb (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), DNF: “I made a mistake on my fast lap in qualifying, and then we got hit early on in the race. That was extremely frustrating.”