Young driver takes first points: Swiss driver Ricardo Feller took his first point in the ADAC GT Masters on Sunday for tenth place in the Audi R8 LMS along with Christopher Haase. He made a good start with his new team, BWT Mücke Motorsport, despite being the youngest driver in the field aged 17. He contested his first season in 2017 with the Audi Sport Racing Academy. "I'm very pleased with my maiden Junior podium and my first championship point in the ADAC GT Masters. It feels great, and I hope there will be many more to come," says Feller.
Nightshift that ended well: The weekend began with a major setback for the GRT Grasser Racing team pairing of Rolf Ineichen and Christian Engelhart. Ineichen spun his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 into the crash barriers in first practice, damaging the car quite badly. Working in three shifts, the Italian stallion was repaired during the night and was ready by 7:00 am on Saturday morning. In order for that to happen, though, one of the racing team's mechanics had to set off immediately after the crash from team headquarters in Knittelfeld, Austria, for the Motorsport Arena with spare parts and the necessary jig. Engelhart put the Lamborghini in pole position on Sunday morning. He and Ineichen finished second in the subsequent race. "A big thank you to the team. The result is the well-deserved reward for all the hard work," said Ineichen afterwards.
Strong comeback: Phoenix Racing returned to the ADAC GT Masters in Oschersleben - and how! Newcomers Max Hofer and Philip Ellis took a sensational race win on Saturday in the Audi R8 LMS. This was the team's fifth overall victory and their first since Hockenheim 2011. "It's incredible, what we've achieved today," said delighted Team Principal Ernst Moser. "It's great to be fielding juniors this year. We gave them plenty of time to get used to the car during winter testing, but we never thought it would turn out this well!" Jake Dennis in P3 was again the best Audi driver in the team's sister car during second qualifying, but a problem prevented another podium finish.
Points for DTM star: DTM star Jamie Green finished in the points in the Audi prepared by BWT Mücke Motorsport on Saturday on his second outing in the ADAC GT Masters, taking eighth place along with Jeffrey Schmidt, despite the fact that it had been almost six months since he had last driven a GT3 car. "Unfortunately, it was not possible for me to be at official testing here in Oschersleben due to other commitments," said Green. "So, of course, I was really down on track time. I knew that this first race weekend would not be easy. Jeffrey did a great job on Saturday and it was only the driver handover that didn't go too well. That cost us a possible finish in the Top Six." A drive-through penalty for a pit stop that was too short prevented another points-scoring finish by Schmidt and Green on Sunday.
Crunching the numbers: Three of the four race winners celebrated their maiden wins in the Super Sports Car League at Oschersleben. Apart from Saturday's winners, Max Hofer & Philip Ellis, another series newcomer finished on the top rung of the podium on Sunday, Lamborghini driver Andrea Caldarelli. The Italian took the win for ORANGE1 by GRT Grasser together with Mirko Bortolotti. This was Bortolotti's third win in the ADAC GT Masters. Audi notched up their 32nd success in the series on Saturday and Lamborghini their 28th on Sunday.
Caught out cat-napping: When MRS GT-Racing reached the paddock and opened up their truck, they got a big surprise when the neighbour's cat jumped out. It must have climbed unnoticed into the trailer for forty winks at team headquarters in Lonsee. The team caught it and rang the neighbour. Puss was then taken to an animal rescue shelter until after the weekend and finally returned to its anxious owner none the worse for wear, this time by car.
Support for Reggaeton duo: Colombian series newcomer Oscar Tunjo advertised the Latino hit "X" by American-Colombian duo Nicky Jam and J. Balvin on his Phoenix Audi at Oschersleben. "I've known them for quite a while," said Tunjo, "and would like to help them become better known in Europe. They might even come to a race this season."