Flying visit: German actor Hardy Krüger Jr paid a visit to the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring. The 50-year-old, who was present as a guest of Honda Team Schubert Motorsport, also went for a stroll along the starting grid ahead of Sunday's race.

Sporting celebrities: Various well-known names from the rest of the sporting world were to be seen at the Red Bull Ring over the weekend. Nici Schmidhofer (29, AUT), the 2017 world champion in the Women's Super G, was pleased to accept an invitation to present the trophies after Saturday's ADAC TCR Germany race. Also in Spielberg were two-time World Toboggan champion Wolfgang Kindl (30, AUT) and several members of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) Paralympic team, including four-time world champion and two-time Paralympic champion Markus Salcher (27, AUT).

Endurance classic: Four of the current crop of ADAC GT Masters drivers will be lining up next week for one of the best-known car race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Last year's winner in the general classification, Timo Bernhard (37, GER), will this time be driving a Porsche 911 RSR in the GTE Pro category. "It's obviously a big change from driving a Porsche 919 Hybrid in the LMP1 class," said the 2015 and 2017 FIA WEC Champion. "But I'm looking forward to competing in one of the four factory 911s. The GTE Pro category is extremely competitive and will probably be the most keenly contested class this time around. My first race at Le Mans in 2002 was also in a GT Porsche, so you could say I've come full circle as I prepare for my twelfth outing." Kévin Estre (29, FRA), Bernhard's ADAC GT Masters team-mate at KÜS Team 75 Bernhard, will also be a member of the Porsche squad contesting the top GT category. Among their toughest opponents will be Stefan Mücke (36, GER, BWT Mücke Motorsport) in a Ford GT. This year's running of the 24-hour classic will also be a special occasion for Luca Stolz (22, GER, Team Zakspeed BKK Mobile Oil Racing), who will be driving a Ferrari 488 in the GTE-Am class: "I simply can't wait to make my debut at Le Mans. I had a very good day of testing there. The track is fantastic. I have two very capable co-drivers, so we've set ourselves the target of winning our class."

Test drive in the Le Mans-winning car: Early in June, Lance David Arnold (32, GER, SML CarWellness by Car Collection) had the privilege of testing the most successful LMP1 sports car of recent years. Arnold, who drives a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the ADAC GT Masters, was invited to take the Porsche 919 Hybrid out for a spin on the MotorLand Aragón circuit in Spain for the auto mobil show on German TV. The prototype which packs around 1,000 horsepower has now won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA WEC in three consecutive years - 2015, 2016 and 2017. "I've driven quite a few cars in my career," enthused Arnold, "but this car just blows your socks off. The way the car accelerates when the electric drive is engaged is just incredible. It was a mega experience." The test will be shown today at 17:00 CEST on the VOX channel.

Alpine excursion: ADAC GT Masters driver Rahel Frey (32, CH, YACO Racing) was invited to drive a very special vehicle ahead of the Red Bull Ring weekend as part of a PR video for Audi. With the FIA Formula E race also due to take place in Zurich this weekend, she steered the Audi e tron Vision Gran Turismo prototype over the legendary Klausen Pass in her home country. Frey already has experience of driving the purely electrically powered vehicle (three electric motors generating 815 horsepower) from a stint as race taxi chauffeur at the German Formula E race in Berlin. "It was a lot of fun driving the car," she said.