The 19-year-old and his partner Markus Winkelhock had started from ninth. Having immediately improved his position on the first lap, Winkelhock came in for the mandatory change of driver in seventh. After Ortmann took over at the wheel of the R8, he too gained several places to cross the finish line fifth in the general classification and first among the drivers aged under 25 years. “The race went pretty well for us,” said the youngster. “We got off the line well at the start, then made up a few places with some overtaking moves. I drove a faultless race, pulled off a nice passing manoeuvre in Turn 1 and ultimately finished as the best-placed Junior. We’ve scored some useful points today, and I’m obviously delighted to have won the Pirelli Junior class. The season can definitely continue like this, as far as I’m concerned.”

Series newcomer Fabian Vettel won his first trophy in the ADAC GT Masters for second-best Junior. He achieved his best result of the season with P7 overall in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 prepared by Mann-Filter Team HTP along with Philip Ellis. Jeffrey Schmidt took third place in the Junior class in another Mücke Audi.

Rolf Ineichen of Team Orange1 by GRT Grasser won the Pirelli Trophy classification for the second time in the current campaign. Team-mate Franck Perera, who had claimed pole position in qualifying, was unable to hold on to the lead in the first lap and fell back to second place. That was still the situation when he handed over the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo to Ineichen. The Swiss amateur subsequently hung on to the runner-up spot through to the chequered flag, but had to defend resolutely over the final laps against the challenge of Trophy rival Sven Barth in the RWT Corvette. Second place was ultimately enough for him to emerge victorious in the category reserved for non-pro drivers. Jan-Erik Slooten in the Iron Force Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R took third place, coming in behind Barth.

Ineichen: “Towards the end, we were in second place, with the Corvette getting closer lap by lap. It was obviously very worrying, because the Corvettes are known for their straight-line speed. Towards the end of the race, there was also some oil on the track. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to tell me over the radio where precisely the slippery part of the track was, and I had to be extra vigilant. That cost us a lot of time. In the end, though, we were able to nail down the result, which of course makes us very happy. We had a great car. Franck [Perera] definitely laid the foundations for our podium today with his amazing lap in qualifying.”