No, Sven Barth had not been expecting a start to the season as good as this. After the first three weekends of the 2019 Super Sports Car League, the 38-year-old and his partner David Jahn are sitting pretty in third place. As a bonus, Barth also leads the Pirelli Trophy standings. The pairing made podium appearances at Most circuit and at the Red Bull Ring, and they are one of only two teams to have scored points in all races to date. By comparison, RWT Racing finished only two races of the 2018 season in the points, of which their highest-placed result was a P6.

"Those first three race weekends were absolutely huge," says Barth. "We never expected that going into the season. We knew that we would be in a strong position with David returning to the team as our second driver - he had already competed for us in 2014. What's more, he was championship runner-up in the 2016 ADAC GT Masters, and with him on board in 2014, we registered the only win for RWT Racing so far - that was at the Nürburgring. But all the same, these results have come as a surprise for us. I was very disappointed after we missed out on the podium at Oschersleben, because I didn't expect us to be in contention for the podium again any time soon."

Barth sees a number of reasons contributing to the successful run: "We have two drivers who are both pulling in the same direction and have the same driving style. We have always had a good car, but until recently, we had been unable to translate that into results. However, we've managed this year by virtue of our combined efforts. We are now looking quite fast in qualifying too. In past years, that's where we haven't been able to extract the maximum in terms of speed. We've always looked good in the races themselves, but if you're starting from far back, you can't really expect much in a field this strong. Also, we've had luck on our side this year, which is another key factor in our performance so far. One further reason is that we're now into our third year with the Corvette C7 GT3-R, and we're still discovering details during setup that enable us to adapt the car even better to our driving style."

The impressive results are all the more surprising, because RWT Racing had only a relatively short time to prepare for the campaign: "The whole project came about just before the season opener. It wasn't until the preseason sessions at Oschersleben that we put in our first test kilometres. That makes what we've achieved all the more amazing." Still, things could have gone even better for the team: "At Oschersleben, I was in second place when it started to rain. The leading Mercedes was losing oil, which smeared my windscreen and severely limited my visibility. In a battle for position with Marvin Kirchhöfer, I drove over the wet kerbs, which sent my car into a spin. That was my fault. Then, at the Red Bull Ring, I was desperate to hang onto third, but unfortunately, I strayed too far over the track limits - even though the team had been warning me - and I got handed a penalty. Unfortunately, things like that happen in the heat of battle. Anyway, the penalty was justified. Ultimately, we only finished eighth."

Barth is reluctant to set targets for the upcoming races: "We are obviously hoping that things continue as they have done so far. The next race is at Zandvoort, where our prospects have never looked so good. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. Of course, we are looking forward to the Nürburgring, where David and I will be sharing a cockpit again for the first time since our victory in 2014. However, we aren't feeling under any sort of pressure - we'll take each race as it comes and have fun. It would be great if I managed to stay ahead in the Pirelli Trophy and won the title. As for the overall standings, we want to make sure that we don't drop back too far. Of course, we also realise that things cannot continue the same throughout the season as they have in the first three races. We'll just see what happens. It's important to score points on as regular a basis as possible. That should be our target."