Sheldon van der Linde was unstoppable in the penultimate ADAC GT Masters race. The South African has won the Pirelli Junior classification for drivers under 25 for the third time in a row after his double victory at the Sachsenring, winning this competition for young drivers before the season has even ended.

Sheldon van der Linde and his brother, Kelvin, with whom he shares the drive in the Audi R8 LMS from Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, were involved in a close three-way battle for the final position on the podium. They came under pressure from Maximilian Götz (Mann-Filter Team HTP, Mercedes-AMG GT3) and Christopher Haase (BWT Mücke Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS) in the second stint of the race. At the finish, the three of them were separated by less than 0.7 seconds. The two brothers are in fourth position in the championship and are still in title contention with a 16-point deficit on the championship leaders before the final race. "That was a very good race," said Sheldon van der Linde. "Unfortunately, the Corvette overtook me on the first lap, but third place means a good haul of points for us. We're hoping for rain on Sunday, as that will help us in the title fight. Winning the Pirelli Junior classification is terrific. Competition in the class was very strong this year. We can be very proud to have won the title."

Swiss driver Ricardo Feller was second in the Pirelli Junior classification. He finished the race in fifth place overall aided by Christopher Haase (BTW Mücke Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS). The party on the Pirelli Junior podium was completed by Patrick Assenheimer, who is sharing the Mercedes-AMG GT3 prepared by AutoArenA Motorsport this weekend with Dominik Baumann, a returnee to the ADAC GT Masters.

There was also an early result in the Pirelli Trophy classification. Thanks to his P2, Audi driver Remo Lips can now no longer be caught in his fight for the title. This is the third win in a row for the Swiss driver from Aust Motorsport. The race win in the Pirelli Trophy class on Saturday went to Sven Barth and Claudia Hürtgen (RWT Racing), who were sixth in the Corvette C7 GT3. Starting from 14th place, Barth took the first stint and turned in a strong performance during the initial stages. He finished the first lap in seventh place overall. "First, I have to take my hat off to the team for rebuilding what was a total wreck after the smash at the Sachsenring," said a happy Claudia Hürtgen after the race. "I'm pleased for the whole team that we were able to score points for sixth place. The race was quite exhausting, because the car was both under and oversteering. In the end, I had to somehow use every trick in the book, because Luca Ludwig kept closing on me. This result is well deserved, and I'm highly delighted after having had such a tough race."