Strong charge
Defending champions Kelvin van der Linde and Patric Niederhauser came to Hockenheim in fifth place, 31 points down. But Rutronik Racing's two Audi Sport drivers took over the championship lead at the weekend and are now four points up after finishing second on Saturday and taking their first win of the season on Sunday.
Two-fold mission
Toksport WRT are currently third in the ADAC GT Masters with Maro Engel and Luca Stolz and were in action at the Super Sports Car League this weekend. The German outfit from Quiddelbach in the Eifel also fielded two ¦koda Fabia Rally2 evos in the World Rally Championship in Turkey where they achieved victory and third place in the WRC2 class.
Strong Lamborghini Juniors
Steijn Schothorst and Tim Zimmermann turned in a strong performance at Hockenheim. GRT Grasser Racing's drivers finished third on Saturday and clinched their first podium in the ADAC GT Masters. Dutchman Schothorst also impressed as one of the fastest drivers of the entire race weekend. He took his maiden pole position on Sunday and posted the fastest lap in both races. Team-mate Zimmermann is now at the top of the table in the classification for Junior drivers after securing two victories in the Pirelli Junior class. "That was a mega weekend for the pair of them," said Team Principal, Gottfried Grasser, singing their praises. "I think they're going to really put the hammer down soon, and I can't wait!" Lamborghini have even become aware of their talents and have accepted them on their programme for juniors.
All good things come in threes
At this third race weekend of the season, Switzerland's Rolf Ineichen from Team WRT won the Pirelli Trophy class for the third time on Sunday. This was his 33rd triumph in the classification for amateur drivers from a total of 60 starts in the Super Sports Car League.
Unlucky Belgians
Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts have achieved one win and one second place plus two victories for Weerts in the Pirelli Junior classification during the first two race weekends of the season. However, the Hockenheim meeting did not go according to plan for either of them. WRT's drivers secured points for 14th place on Saturday, but practically nothing went right for them in Sunday's race. First, there was a puncture to contend with, then a drive-through penalty for a pit-stop infringement and finally, disqualification for using tyres that had not been registered for use. "To be honest, there isn't much to say about this weekend, and I was not happy with my driving either," said Vanthoor. "There were plenty of teams that did a far better job than us. We have to improve as a team right across the board if we are to reclaim our place up front where we belong."
Pommer still confident
After a disastrous home race at Hockenheim in 2019, Markus Pommer and Callaway Competition came away empty-handed twice again from the circuit in south-west Germany, a track where these local lads have already won on four previous occasions. "Once again, luck was not on our side as has often been the case this year," said Pommer. "Contending for the title now will be very tough, but we want to achieve some decent results in the remaining races. I think our car is quite good. We just need to string things together more."
Pick of the bunch
Steijn Schothorst's pole position on Sunday was Lamborghini's 40th overall in the ADAC GT Masters - no other brand has been on pole so many times. Audi are directly behind them with 39 pole positions.
Recidivists
With their triumph on Saturday, Michael Ammermüller and Christian Engelhart became the first to achieve their second win of the 2020 season. They were out of the points on Sunday in P18, but their outfit, SSR Performance, now leads the team standings.
Unusual expression
The rear-end of the Audi R8 LMS driven by Kelvin van der Linde and Patric Niederhauser now has a new sticker - Der Koffer geht Diggie! (This berk is lost!). "I'm the one who introduced the expression," said van der Linde. "The mechanics found it very funny and the fans love it too. Probably because of my accent. Anyway, we decided to put it on the car."
First points
The season to date has not gone as hoped for teams fielding the BMW M6 GT3, but an upward trend was discernible at Hockenheim as the two pairings from Schubert Motorsport, Aidan Read/Joel Eriksson and Henric Skoog/Nick Yelloly, became the first drivers in an M6 GT3 to secure points in the drivers' standings this season.