Patric Niederhauser (Rutronik Racing, Audi R8 LMS, P1 overall): „We’ve had an incredible weekend with a P1 and a P2. Obviously, it had been our objective to make up ground in the championship. But the fact that we are now top of the table clearly exceeds our expectations. Kelvin laid the foundation for victory with a strong start and first lap. It was then important for me to make sure the driver change went smoothly and that we didn’t lose any time on it. Immediately after the pit stop, I pushed very hard. The car had excellent traction and balance, so we were able to pull out a lead which then had to be managed.“
Kelvin van der Linde (Rutronik Racing, Audi R8 LMS, P1 overall): „A solid first lap and having a great car were certainly a big help today. As a team, we are essentially in a good place. We know what we need in terms of pace and, above all, what we have to do to achieve it. Furthermore, we manage to be very consistent from race to race. This is what has made it possible for us to move into the championship lead. We came to Hockenheim almost 30 points behind, so I was not expecting us to be heading for the next race at the Sachsenring as leaders in the general classification.“
Christopher Haase (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P2 overall: „We got off to a really good start. The fact that the first corners were chaotic helped Kelvin [van der Linde] and me in particular, enabling us to gain several positions right at the start. During the race, the car felt very positive, and we had good pace. However, I realised that Kelvin was a bit faster. Because Mirko [Bortolotti] was under some pressure just behind me, I was able to pull away and complete my stint without any major mistakes. Since the beginning of the season, we have been able to improve our car a lot, so that we now have the opportunity to get among the front-runners again.“
Max Hofer (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), P2 overall: „Looking at the whole season, we’ve been making steady progress culminating with our podium for P2 today. Hopefully, the first victory of the season won’t be far behind. I obviously wanted to challenge for the win today, but I had to accept that Kelvin and Patric were just too strong. But a good pit stop helped us to hang on to our second position. The fact is that we didn’t have an easy race, but we were still able to finish as runners-up in a controlled manner.“
Mirko Bortolotti (Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS), P3 overall: „The immediate start of the race was pretty chaotic. I was running parallel with Steijn Schothorst’s Lamborghini but then had to take my foot off the gas and lost momentum. The cars behind us took advantage of this. All in all, I am very happy with third place. We had good pace and scored some decent points. We certainly got the maximum out of today’s race.“
Rolf Ineichen (Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS), P3 overall, winner in the Pirelli Trophy: „Hockenheim is a good place for me. I have competed in so many races here and celebrated quite few successes. Mirko [Bortolotti] had a bit of bad luck on the first lap, but then he managed to get us back among the leaders. It therefore fell to me to make sure we were still third at the finish line. The wheel-to-wheel action behind us certainly worked in our favour. It gave us the opportunity to pull out a bit of a gap and to score some decent points.“
Maximilian Götz (Mann-Filter Team HTP-Winward, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo), P4 overall: „I didn’t get away optimally, because the Lamborghini in front of me briefly came off the gas while everyone else was going flat out. I took a hit in all the jostling for position, after which the steering wheel was crooked and the brake pedal started to go spongy, which meant I had to pump every time I braked. I assume that the brake cooling system had sustained some damage.“
Indy Dontje (Mann-Filter Team HTP-Winward, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo), P4 overall: „I really struggled out there because, unlike all the other cars in the leading group, we started on used tyres. And this was particularly noticeable in the final phase, as the rear left tyre in particular was completely worn out. I had no chance of challenging the cars in front, so I just concentrated on keeping the Lambo behind me. Today was a good day. We’ve at last got ourselves back where we belong. The car was really good; otherwise, with all the problems mentioned, it wouldn’t have been possible for us to have this sort of pace.“
Tim Zimmermann (GRT Grasser Racing Team, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo), P5 overall, winner in Pirelli Junior classification: „When you start from pole, you’re obviously hopeful of a Top Three result. But I am nevertheless very satisfied and extremely happy with how the weekend went - especially with it being only my third GT3 outing. The ADAC GT Masters is incredibly hard-fought and tough, so good results don’t simply drop in your lap. Steijn had a good start from pole, but then was pushed off course a little and lost a lot of speed. Unfortunately, that cost us quite a few places. Overtaking was more difficult today, because the track was dirtier. I fought with the Mercedes-AMG, but unfortunately, couldn’t find a way around it. Things keep getting better for us at the moment, but we’ll all be dealing with a fresh set of cards once again at the Sachsenring.“
Philip Ellis (Knaus Team HTP-Winward, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo), P7 overall: „A P6 and a P7 are OK. But there is clearly still some room for improvement. After I had taken over from Lello, there wasn’t much more I could do, because the tyres were pretty worn out. I was able to keep up with the group I was in, but I couldn’t attack. Anyway, it was a good weekend which brought us some important championship points. We are heading in the right direction.“
David Jahn (Küs Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), P11 overall: „Qualifying was terrific. I was very pleased with fifth place, as that was probably the maximum. The start of the race was a disaster. I was almost overrun from behind. I hadn’t even seen the lights go green when one or two drivers started coming at me from behind. I was pushed off course two or three times on the first lap, because nobody was leaving any space. Today was unfair compared to yesterday. And then getting into my stride was tricky on dirty tyres. I just kept up with the others. Eleventh place is okay, but when you start from P5, you want to finish further up front, which would have been a possibility but for all the scrapping going on.“
Simona De Silvestro (Küs Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), DNF: „Things were tough today. I had some problems with grip in qualifying and don’t really know why. The car felt good, but the lap times weren’t there. Still, we made good progress in the race and had already made it into the points. It’s a shame that Klaus crashed out towards the end, but that’s racing! We push hard in order to go forwards, so things like that happen.“
Klaus Bachler (Küs Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), DNF: „We made a good job of fighting our way forwards and were already up to fifteenth and in the points, but then we ran into a tough situation on the last lap. I was having a good run. We entered the hairpin three abreast. I left space for the other two as we exited the corner and was on the very edge of the track. I had nowhere to go and we collided. I crashed, unfortunately. I can only say sorry to everyone in the team. We wanted to score points and tried everything. It’s just stupid what happened. It was simply a racing incident.“