For Mathieu Jaminet (26/F), the two ADAC GT Masters races in Zandvoort on 10th and 11th July will be two special highlights. The Frenchman took his only win of the 2018 season at the Dutch circuit on the North Sea coast, which has since been modified. That victory was a key factor in Jaminet going on to win the Driver title.

2021 sees the 2018 ADAC GT Masters champion return for a full season for the first time since winning the title. As a new driver in the SSR Performance team from Munich, Jaminet shares the driving duties in a Porsche 911 GT3 R with Michael Ammermüller (35/Rotthalmünster), the defending champion. The duo has already won two of the season’s four races so far, and travels to Zandvoort as the championship leaders in the ADAC GT Masters.

You have made a very successful return to the ADAC GT Masters this year, a series in which you have already been crowned champion once in 2018. With your team-mate Michael Ammermüller, you have won two of the first four races of the season with your new team SSR Performance, and currently top the table. How do you explain this strong performance?

Mathieu Jaminet: “We have indeed been very strong so far, and better than I had expected. However, the SSR Performance team was already strong beforehand. I believe I am a good addition to the team and have already been able to call on some of my experience. We do a lot of testing. That makes the race weekends, at which we have a tight schedule and a limited number of tyres, much easier. Another key to our success is the fact that I have been working with my current race engineer since last year. He totally understands me. I only have to tell him once what I need for my car. Then it is down to me to exploit the high potential of our car on the track.”

Your team-mate Michael Ammermüller is the defending champion in the ADAC GT Masters. He is in his second season driving for SSR Performance. How is the cooperation going?

Mathieu Jaminet: “We know each other well. We drove together in the 2017 ADAC GT Masters and have stayed in touch since. We have a good relationship. That has played an important role in my early days with SSR Performance. Michael is still a great help there. At the start, he introduced me to all the team members and assured them that I would do a good job for them. When we immediately started to get good results, it made everything even easier – even though I am the only one in the team who doesn’t speak any German.”

What do you have to say about SSR Performance, a team that won both the Driver and Team titles in its first season in the ADAC GT Masters in 2020?

Mathieu Jaminet: “I can only repeat what I have said before: the preparation at SSR Performance is outstanding. Their Porsche 911 GT3 R is one of the best GT3 cars I have driven in recent years. The Porsche is a very sensitive car. As such, I am always amazed how superbly SSR Performance deals with the car, and how the team prepares everything else so well. The key personnel, team principal Wolfgang Hatz in particular, are very experienced. They understand exactly what their team needs, focus on precisely that, and consistently do an outstanding job. That has really impressed me.”

You head to Zandvoort at the weekend, where you have already won an ADAC GT Masters race in 2018. How much do you like this circuit?

Mathieu Jaminet: “Zandvoort is clearly one of my favourite circuits on the ADAC GT Masters calendar. An old-school track, really fast, at which you the driver can make the difference more than anywhere else with the right degree of risk and the right line. That is why I am particularly looking forward to Zandvoort. The final turn, which is now banked since the modifications, can now be taken at full-throttle in top gear. That increases the amount of the circuit that is taken at high-speed.”

Zandvoort is followed by the Nürburgring, Lausitzring, Sachsenring and Hockenheimring. Which are the key circuits with regard to the title race?

Mathieu Jaminet: “With the competition so evenly matched in this year’s ADAC GT Masters, no circuit is more important than any other. It is vital to score as many points as possible everywhere. The Porsche has always been very strong at the Nürburgring of late. That should be a highlight. I hope so, at least. To be crowned champion, you have to be in contention for the podium and victory everywhere.”

You and your team-mate Michael Ammermüller could make history this year you’re your second titles in the ADAC GT Masters. Ammermüller could achieve an even more remarkable feat: he would be the first driver in the 15-year history of the series to successfully defend their title.

Mathieu Jaminet: “That is our main goal for this season. The fact that no driver has ever managed to defend the title in the ADAC GT Masters shows how close the competition has been throughout the years.”