There’s a special story attached to Engelhart and the 4.32km circuit. It was his very first race weekend in the ADAC GT Masters when the Super Sports Car League made its debut there back in 2011 – but that’s not the real reason why this particular weekend should stick in his memory as he goes on to tell us: “With Norbert Siedler as team-mate, I was a guest entrant in a Porsche 911 prepared by MRS, for whom I raced in the Porsche Cup. It was my first time ever in a GT3 car. The race on Saturday was extremely memorable. I got a great start and was in P1 at the end of the first lap from sixth on the grid. It began to rain during my stint, and we somehow had to make it through to the pit stop window on slicks without coming in for an extra change of tyres. It was extremely slippery out there, and after I’d pitted, a number of cars behind me spun off at the entrance to the pits because of the huge amounts of standing water at that spot, making it incredibly difficult to keep the car under control. Norbert then took over and comfortably secured the win at the finish line. We certainly made a big impact on our ADAC GT Masters debut!”

A year later, Engelhart and Nick Tandy, who has taken wins in both the WEC and at Le Mans, achieved their second victory at the circuit in the Alps. Engelhart finished on the top rung of the podium there for the third time last year when he and Rolf Ineichen won Sunday’s race from pole position in the Lamborghini Hurácan GT3 fielded by GRT Grasser Racing Team. This success was again very special, since it was the fastest race ever in the history of the ADAC GT Masters with an average speed of 170.9 km/h. Engelhart: “That was a real roller coaster of a weekend. We had a bit of an incident in qualifying on Saturday, in which the car was damaged and had to start from way down the field, so our win on Sunday was, as you can imagine, the highlight of my season. Also, it was a home race for GRT Grasser Racing. I owe the team a lot. Winning there is a dream. It was tremendous to secure the win and celebrate with the crew.”

Engelhart is really looking forward to next week’s races: “I always love to race at the Red Bull Ring. The circuit is in a beautiful setting and has many changes in elevation, which I always really like. I’m itching to get started. We’ll do our best.”

He is also a big fan of the track’s configuration: “The Red Bull Ring suits me. It’s important to find your rhythm there. There are relatively few turns, but you have to hit them perfectly – which is sometimes not so easy. For example, the first corner comes after a very long uphill stretch, and you need to get a good exit from this turn in particular. But that also applies to many of the other corners. There’s no margin for error, because the gaps between cars are always very small. The Red Bull Ring demands absolute precision. The tarmac is not particularly aggressive on tyres, so you can easily post several hot laps in qualifying. Tyres hold up well in the race as well, so the car remains roughly the same on every lap.”