Claudia Hürtgen has so far notched up seven wins and 19 podiums in the Super Sports Car League. She will return to the series as partner to Sven Barth in RWT Racing’s Corvette C7 GT3-R after competing in the ADAC GT Masters from 2009 to 2016.

“I realised at the beginning of the year that I would like to line up again in the ADAC GT Masters,” she said. “I’ve known RWT Team Principal Gerd Beisel for several years now and took a closer look at the Corvette C7 GT3-R during their presentation at the end of 2015. We spoke on the phone this January and quickly found that there were synergies. The way was open to join RWT when my employer, BMW M GmbH, confirmed that I could pursue my passion in my free-time and even race for a different manufacturer. I’m very grateful to BMW for agreeing, since it’s by no means a foregone conclusion.”

Hürtgen is very enthusiastic about the ADAC GT Masters: “I love the close competition in the qualifying sessions when there are often 20 cars within one or one-and-a-half seconds of each other. I’ve always really liked such competition, but I also think that the format of the series is great. The programme for spectators, drivers and teams is just terrific, packed into a relatively short period of time, from Friday to Sunday lunchtime.”

Born in Aachen in the north but now resident in Munich in the south, Claudia is really looking forward to her first test outing in the Corvette: “We’ll go testing for the first time in March after the seat fitting. The thought of that 6.2-litre engine. Wow! I think that driving the Corvette will be similar to being at the wheel of the BMW Z4 GT3 which was very much my baby and which I helped to develop over the course of six years. So, making the switch shouldn’t be too onerous.”

Hürtgen has a clear goal for this season: “To finish on the podium in the overall classification at some point – that would be a major coup for Sven and me. Of course, we also intend to compete for victory in the Trophy ranking.”