Fine material: New ADAC GT Masters champions Patric Niederhauser (27, CH) and Kelvin van der Linde (23, ZA, both HCB-Rutronik Racing) received a special award. At the championship presentations after Sunday's race, they were made members of the ADAC GT Masters Club of Champions, sponsored by ADAC GT Masters partner, herrenausstatter.de, in conjunction with the ADAC. Renata DePauli, CEO at DePauli AG, who operate the herrenausstatter.de online shop, presented the Audi drivers with bespoke, blue sports jackets embroidered with club badges and gold inner linings made exclusively for members of the ADAC GT Masters Club of Champions.
Champions celebrate with 'Schumacher Selection': Kelvin van der Linde and Patric Niederhauser cheered like mad at the championship celebrations after the race and sprayed two full bottles of Schumacher champagne. The double Magnum bottles for the championship celebrations and the Magnum bottles to honour the ADAC GT Masters race winners came from the winery of ex-Formula 1 and DTM driver Ralf Schumacher. 'Schumacher Selection' is a sparkling wine, produced according to the famous champagne method.
Thrilling to very end: Moritz Löhner (Williams Esports) is the first champion of the ADAC GT Masters Esports Championship. In the two races of the fourth and final SimRacing live event at the Sachsenring, the German driver took two second places behind double winner, Tim Jarschel (Euronics Gaming), which was enough to secure the championship with a two-point lead. Florian Hasse and Euronics gaming team-mate Julian Kunze were third in the two rounds. André Santos (Euronics Gaming) and Julian Kunze booked second and third place respectively in the overall standings.
Boxing star: Former boxing star Axel Schulz (50) was a guest at the Sachsenring this weekend. The heavy-weight boxer is a big motorsport fan and held up the famous 'Start Your Engines' sign sponsored by series partner Camp David for Saturday's race. "I really love motor racing," said Schulz. "The sound at the racetrack is just incredible. You can hear it quite well on TV, but it's just awesome at the track."
Football VIP: Ralf Rangnick (61), former coach and sports director of Bundesliga team, RB Leipzig, and now 'Head of Sports and Soccer Development' at Red Bull, was at the Sachsenring on Saturday and stopped by to see MRS GT-Racing before his former club played FC Schalke 04. The BMW M6 GT3 belonging to the outfit and raced by Nicolai Sylvest (22, DK) and Jens Klingmann (29, GER) bore the 'Ralf Rangnick Stiftung' logo in the season finale. The Foundation's aim is to support children in their development and help them to become responsible, independent, capable teenagers and young adults. "I'm a real motorsport fan but have never been to the Sachsenring until now, even though I've got family just a few miles away," said Rangnick. "I've followed the development of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing and was also at the Formula 1 race in Monza a couple of years ago. That was a terrific experience."
Basketball stars come to call: On Saturday night, ADAC GT Masters driver Marvin Dienst (22, GER, Schütz Motorsport) went to watch the second division home game of basketball team, Niners Chemnitz, who played Bayer Giants Leverkusen in front of around 3,300 fans. The basketball players got their own back on Sunday, paying a flying visit to the Super Sports Car League. They said "hi" to Dienst in the pits and also really enjoyed inspecting the starting grid.
Family get-together: Freshly crowned champion Kelvin van der Linde (23, ZA, HCB-Rutronik Racing) was cheered on by his parents, Bernadette and Shaun van der Linde, at the Sachsenring, who had flown in especially from South Africa. Younger brother Sheldon (20), with whom the Audi driver finished championship runner-up in the 2018 ADAC GT Masters, was also there at the track on Saturday to wish him luck.
Special milestone: Lamborghini driver Christian Engelhart (32, GER, Orange 1 by GRT Grasser) contested his 100th race in the ADAC GT Masters on Sunday.