Impressive junior

Charles Weerts is a name that was familiar to only a few commentators before the race weekend at the Lausitzring, but on his debut appearance in the ADAC GT Masters, the youngest driver in this year’s field caused quite a stir. On Saturday, in his first ever qualifying session, the Belgian booked third place on the grid, and one day later, the ex-ADAC Formula 4 driver and his partner Dries Vanthoor cruised to victory. At the age of 19 years, five months and two days, Weerts now becomes the sixth-youngest driver to have stood on the top rung of the ADAC GT Masters podium.

Winning debuts

The two races last weekend were won by two newcomer teams, each claiming a maiden victory in the Super Sports Car League. Whereas Toksport had already got a feel for the ADAC GT Masters by contesting two race weekends in 2019, this was the first appearance in the series for Team WRT who arrive with an illustrious record in international GT racing. Since the inaugural season of the ADAC GT Masters in 2007, 42 teams have produced race-winning combos. Toksport WRT’s driver pairing of Maro Engel and Luca Stolz now lead the championship standings after two races.

Maiden pole

Team WRT driver Dries Vanthoor was fastest in Sunday’s quali and becomes the 80th driver in the history of the ADAC GT Masters to take pole position.

Impressive weekend

SSR Performance are yet another team that is contesting its first season in the ADAC GT Masters, and they too were on impressive form at the Lausitzring. The Munich-based outfit had previously only made one guest start in the series - at Hockenheim in 2019. Christian Engelhart and Michael Ammermüller were Saturday’s race runners-up, and on Sunday they missed out on another podium appearance in fourth place by only 0.7 seconds. „This has been a perfect start to the season,“ said Ammermüller. „I am incredibly happy that our thorough preparation has paid off.“

Battle in the heat

The first race weekend of the ADAC GT Masters after such a long break also stressed the drivers in terms of heat exhaustion. On both race days, the thermometer rose to just over 30°C.

Schütz in the points

Schütz Motorsport came away from the Lausitzring with two championship points scored by their new driver pairing of Marvin Dienst and Philipp Frommenwiler. Schütz were the only team registered for the full campaign not to take part in the preseason tests at the Lausitzring. „We can be satisfied with how we performed,“ said Frommenwiler. „In the circumstances, two points is OK. We didn’t take part in the tests two weeks ago, which is why there were certain things we only found out about just now. Despite that, we still managed to improve from session to session and score points.“

Drama on the last lap

Lamborghini works drivers Albert Costa Balboa and Franck Perera of the GRT Grasser Racing Team finished Saturday’s race in P5 and with a decent haul of championship points. The following day, they were looking good for another top result when a dramatic twist on the final lap scuppered their chances. Lying in fifth position, Costa Balboa sustained a puncture only three corners before the chequered flag and was forced to retire. „I couldn’t control the car and I spun,“ said the Spaniard. „It’s so incredibly unfortunate to miss out on such a good result this way with three corners to go.“

Fast but scant reward

Another Audi junior, Maximilian Paul, caused a minor sensation on Saturday. The 20-year-old driving an R8 LMS fielded by T3-HRT-Motorsport qualified on the front row of the grid, missing pole position by the slender margin of 43 thousandths. Following a spin in the subsequent race, Paul and partner Niels Langeveld were obliged to fight their way back from 31st to 12th place. In the process, Paul posted the fifth-fastest race lap. „Unfortunately, the start didn’t go as well as I had hoped, and I lost a few places,“ said the young Dresdener. „Then I got dirt on the tyres and lost the car in turn eight, which dropped me a long way back down the field. But our car was very fast. By the halfway mark and the driver change, I had worked my way up to 15th place, and Niels then gained a few more positions. P12 is obviously a disappointment after a qualifying session like that, but going into the weekend, we would have been satisfied with the result. In any case, it was our strongest performance since we entered the series last year.“