The race weekend of the German GT Championship in Austria produced some fascinating facts and stories. Take a look at the Red Bull Ring notebook.
Four rapid rings
For a long time, the characteristics of the Red Bull Ring meant the circuit was not exactly seen as a happy hunting ground for Audi. However, that has all changed now – the R8 LMS has never been as successful at the Austrian circuit as it was in the Sunday race: the second qualifying session saw Audi Sport driver Dennis Marschall secure the first pole position for the brand with the four rings at the Red Bull Ring. In the race itself, the German and his driving partner Kim-Luis Schramm finished runner-up, missing out on victory by less than a second. Audi has never come so close to securing its first win in Austria. The fastest lap of the race came courtesy of Dries Vanthoor, underlining the speed of the R8 LMS.
Successful start
The new online show from the German GT Championship – “ADAC GT Masters Backstage, live from the eBay Motors garage” – made its debut on Sunday. The new format goes behind the scenes in the racing series and highlights the people who do invaluable work in the background at race weekends. In the first episode, broadcast live from the eBay Motors garage, we were introduced to a mechanic from Mann-Filter Team Landgraf – HTP/WWR and Red Bull Ring marshals. A recording of the programme is available here: youtube.com/watch?v=1PQFkIgvdhc.
Highs and lows
After last year’s victory, expectations were high at Schubert Motorsport ahead of the race weekend at the Red Bull Ring. The Saturday started promisingly for the team from Oschersleben: Nick Yelloly qualified on the front row of the grid and proceeded to lead the race in the early stages. However, a damper issue forced the Englishman to retire from the lead on lap five. Yelloly and his partner Jesse Krohn did finish third in the Sunday race to claim a spot on the podium and end the weekend on a high. “We really wanted to repeat last year’s victory, but luck deserted us at the crucial moment,” said team principal Andre Schubert. “The whole team did an excellent job to exhaust the full potential of the BMW M6 GT3 at this racetrack. Victory on Saturday would have been just reward for all the effort. We managed a bit of damage limitation with the podium in race two. Nick really gave it his all in the final few minutes, to ensure that we still made it onto the podium this weekend. We can ultimately take a lot of positives from the weekend. We were competitive again and scored valuable points towards the overall standings.”
As close as it gets
It took a photo finish to decide the battle between three Audi R8 LMS for the final points positions in Sunday’s race. Florian Spengler/Markus Winkelhock eventually came out on top to take 14th place, just one thousandth of a second ahead of fellow Audi drivers Dennis Lind/Dries Vanthoor. Local favourites Simon Reicher/Norbert Siedler followed them home in 16th place, narrowly missing out on the points by just 24 thousandths of a second.
First points
Local boy Clemens Schmid and his partner Mike David Ortmann finished 11th in the Sunday race to score their first points of the season in Austria. “I can only thank the whole team,” said Schmid. “We did not have an easy start to the weekend, but everyone worked extremely hard to get the right set-up. We had a sensational car in the race. Unfortunately, Sunday’s qualifying did not go entirely to plan for me. Eleventh place was a nice and hard-fought result in the end.”
Two wins and the championship lead
In the Audi crew of Dennis Marschall/Kim-Luis Schramm and Lamborghini driver Rolf Ineichen, the victories in the Pirelli Junior competition and the Pirelli Trophy went to the same drivers on both Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to their success this weekend, Marschall/Schramm and Ineichen now lead their respective competitions.
Luckless
Luck was not on the side of Küs Team Bernhard last weekend. The two Porsche 911 GT3 R of the team from Saarpfalz ended the weekend with one eleventh place and three zeroes. What made it particularly bitter was the fact that local favourite Thomas Preining and defending champion Christian Engelhart were on course for a podium finish in race one until a mistake during a pit stop and a subsequent penalty lap saw the duo drop well down the field. “It was a weekend to forget,” said team principal Timo Bernhard.
Thrilled fans
The two races at the Red Bull Ring provided excellent, entertaining motorsport. Fierce battles, a host of overtaking manoeuvres and a feast of action thrilled the fans, who were able to follow the action live at the racetrack for the first time in this season’s ADAC GT Masters. They repeatedly cheered the drivers on with standing ovations.
Hard impact
Sunday’s race lasted just a few seconds for Maro Engel. The driver from Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT was hit by another car at the exit from turn one and crashed into the barriers. The impact was at 117 km/h and subjected the driver to a force of 5.8 g. Engel was unhurt, but the team now has until the next race in Zandvoort at the start of July to reassemble the severely damaged car using a reserve chassis.
Reward
T3 Motorsport driver Maximilian Paul has been included in the GT3 Junior programme of Lamborghini Squadra Corse. He joins a further two ADAC GT Masters drivers in Steijn Schothorst and Tim Zimmermann of the GRT Grasser Racing Team, who have been part of the programme since last season. If the talented youngsters impress sufficiently, they could be looking at a promotion to Lamborghini works driver.