Internet celebrity visits ADAC GT Masters: Philipp Stehler attended the ADAC GT Masters season opener at the weekend as a guest of series partner Camp David and went away impressed by the Super Sports Car League. On Saturday, the former contestant on the RTL Bachelorette TV series held up the Start-your-Engines sign for the first race and also posted about the ADAC GT Masters on his Instagram page @philipp_stehler.
Audi Sport as supplier of official cars: At the start of the opening weekend, Audi Sport handed over new vehicles to the race management. These include three new Audi R8 V10 plus models for use as safety car and leading car. Audi Sport has been Official Car Partner to the ADAC GT Masters since 2011.
Popular debut: The first edition of the new ADAC GT Masters talk show, PS on Air presented by Patrick Simon, went down well with viewers. Among the first guests of the entertaining and laid-back show broadcast live from the Oschersleben paddock were defending champion Robert Renauer (34, GER, Precote Herberth Motorsport) and Saturday's pole-sitter Marvin Dienst (22, GER, Schütz Motorsport). If you missed the first episode, you can watch it online at youtu.be/rhFOBvFvVtw.
Consolidated commitment: Series partner Camp David has expanded its involvement in the ADAC GT Masters for 2019. For the first time, the fashion manufacturer will sponsor the Start-your-Engines sign which rouses all 17,000 horsepower of the cars on the grid to life. The branding of the menswear label can also be seen in the winners' parc fermé, on banners and on the back wall for TV interviews. Camp David has been the official fashion partner of the ADAC GT Masters since 2017.
The Class of 2019: The ADAC GT Masters drivers were gathered together at Oschersleben for the traditional group photo. On Sunday morning, the 62 drivers of the Aston Martin , Audi, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche cars met with ADAC Sports President Hermann Tomczyk and ADAC Motorsport Director Thomas Voss for a joint photo shoot. The 31 super sports cars had already been photographed on Thursday at the first corner.
Veteran duo: Ferrari driver Sebastian Asch (32, GER, HB Racing) celebrated a very special anniversary on Saturday at Oschersleben. The 2012 and 2015 ADAC GT Masters Champion was contesting his 150th race in the Super Sports Car League. No other driver in the series, which dates back to 2007, has made as many starts as the 32-year-old from Swabia. In fact, Asch has missed out on only 27 races in the history of the ADAC GT Masters. The second-most experienced contestant in the series is Asch's team-mate Luca Ludwig (30, GER), who was competing in his 130th race on Saturday.
Chat with 'Godehard': ADAC GT Masters fans watching the YouTube livestream on Sunday morning had a special surprise. Porsche driver Jan-Erik 'Godehard' Slooten (34, GER, Iron Force Racing) chatted live with the viewers during the qualifying session in which his team-mate Lucas Luhr was at the wheel of their 911 GT3 R. "That was really fun," said Slooten afterwards.