Igor Walilko had several reasons to celebrate at the Lausitzring on Sunday: the Pole was not only celebrating his 24th birthday, but also gave himself a nice gift with his first overall victory in the ADAC GT Masters and his maiden win in the Pirelli Junior competition.

The morning began in promising fashion for the driver from the Zakspeed BKK Krankenkasse Racing team: his partner Jules Gounon secured pole position for the duo in qualifying. In the race itself, Gounon managed to stay out in front until he came into the pits, where he handed over to Walilko with a 3.5-second lead. The Polish driver successfully brought that lead home, despite the best efforts of fellow Mercedes driver Luca Stolz after an appearance from the safety car in the closing stages.

“This is the best birthday present you could imagine,” said the happy Pole. “I don’t know what to say. Jules did a great job. I would also like to thank the team, who worked into the night to repair our car after yesterday’s crash. In my stint, I initially lost a little time. I then tried to maintain my pace and avoid making any mistakes. And that worked. Only during the safety car phase did I briefly start to feel a little nervous. This is my first podium in the ADAC GT Masters and I am overjoyed.”

The second best junior driver was yesterday’s winner Ricardo Feller in the Land-Audi R8 LMS. Third place in the class was sufficient for fellow Audi racers Kim-Luis Schramm and Dennis Marschall (Rutronik Racing) to extend their lead in the Pirelli Junior competition.

In the Pirelli Trophy, Rolf Ineichen was again unbeatable. The Swiss Lamborghini driver from GRT Grasser Racing Team repeated yesterday’s success. The other podium positions were also the same as yesterday: Audi driver Elia Erhart was second in the class, with Pirelli Trophy leader Florian Spengler third.