Zandvoort: Robert Renauer (33, GER) and Mathieu Jaminet (23, FRA, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) have firmly announced their intentions in the title chase with a lights-to-flag victory in Sunday’s race at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. It was their first win of the 2018 ADAC GT Masters campaign. Second place went to the Mercedes-AMG pairing of Patrick Assenheimer (26, GER) and Raffaele Marciello (23, ITA, both AutoArenA Motorsport) ahead of Adrien de Leener (28, BEL) and Klaus Bachler (27, AUT, both KÜS Team75 Bernhard) in another Porsche 911 GT3 R. “That was a perfect day,” said a jubilant victor Jaminet. “It’s great to have at last got this first win of the season for us and for Porsche.”
Renauer and Jaminet cruise to victory
Pole-sitter Jaminet asserted his lead at the start and gradually drew away from the pursuing bunch over the subsequent laps. At times, the Frenchman was almost 3.5 seconds up on the rest of the field. He eventually handed the car over to partner Renauer at the compulsory pit stop with a cushion of just under 2.5 seconds. The Bavarian likewise produced an error-free drive and took the chequered flag as the winner with a lead of 4.9 seconds at the end of the 35 laps. In doing so, Jaminet and Renauer secured Porsche’s first win of the season. This was Jaminet’s second success in the ADAC GT Masters and team-mate Renauer’s fifth. And yet, the weekend had begun with a major setback when Renauer crashed in first practice on Friday and the crew had to work all night on repairing the Porsche.
Second place went to Mercedes-AMG drivers Assenheimer and Marciello. The Italian took the first stint and was running fifth, but he pitted later than his immediate rivals, a move that paid off. Partner Assenheimer found himself in third place and subsequently went past Porsche driver de Leener to take P2. This was the best result of the season to date for the AutoArenA outfit. De Leener and team-mate Klaus Bachler ultimately had to settle for third place, even though Bachler had advanced to second place at the start.
Championship leaders Markus Pommer (27, GER) and Maximilian Götz (32, GER, both MannFilter Team HTP Motorsport) finished fourth, thereby increasing their lead on the second-placed pairing from seven to eight points, a slot now occupied by race winners Renauer and Jaminet.
Indy Dontje (25, NL) and Maximilian Buhk (25, GER) had a disappointing result. They crossed the line in P5 in the second Mercedes-AMG fielded by Mann-Filter Team HTP Motorsport but had been on the front row at the start. They lost a place just as the race got underway and dropped another two positions down the field after the pit stop. Finishing in sixth place, Ricardo Feller (18, CH) and Christopher Haase (30, GER, both BWT Mücke Motorsport) led home a group of seven Audi R8 LMS. Team-mates Mike David Ortmann (18, GER) and Markus Winkelhock (38, GER, both BWT Mücke Motorsport) took P7 from Filip Salaquarda (34, CZ) and Frank Stippler (43, GER, both Team ISR). Jeffrey Schmidt (24, CH) and DTM star Jamie Green (36, GB, both BWT Mücke Motorsport) were ninth. Audi drivers Florian Spengler (30, GER) and Dries Vanthoor (20, BEL) picked up the final point for tenth place.
Victory in the Pirelli Trophy classification went to ADAC GT Masters newcomers Jan-Erik Slooten (33, GER) and Lucas Luhr (39, GER, both IronForce by RING POLICE) in a repeat of their result in the season opener at Oschersleben.
Comments from the winners
Mathieu Jaminet (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R): “The race was perfect: 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): “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.”