Here’s what the drivers had to say after the Saturday race at the finale of this season’s German GT Championship at the Nürburgring.

Ricardo Feller (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), 1st overall and Pirelli Junior winner: “That was absolutely perfect today. Third pole, third race win, and we extended our lead. That puts us in the perfect position for the race on Sunday. We are extremely motivated ahead of tomorrow. The battle with the Toksport Mercedes at the start was close but fair. After that, the Porsche put the Mercedes under a lot of pressure and I was able to open a healthy lead. The car felt very good today and I was able to get through my laps well. Chris then brought the car home safely in his stint. We are now very close to winning the title, but an awful lot can still happen. Taking a 17-point lead into the final race is good, and we will do everything we can to hang on to that lead.”

Christopher Mies (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), 1st overall: “We are a little surprised at how good the Audi is here. We actually thought we might be the third power here. We must now make sure we look after the points, avoid getting involved in any skirmishes, and then take advantage of the situation. The ADAC GT Masters is always very close and I know how good the other drivers are. It will definitely be a close affair tomorrow.”

Mathieu Jaminet (SSR Performance, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 2nd overall: “I am really happy with the result, Land-Motorsport just did a better job today and deserved the win. We made the best out of the qualifying result. The start of the race was very exciting. I saw that a lot of cars were pulling to the inside, so I opted to stay on the outside and brake late. Fortunately, we were not taken out by the spinning Lamborghini and made it through the first few corners well. Later in the race, I tried to catch the Audi. However, we did not quite have enough to overtake him. Our goal for tomorrow is to secure pole and win the race.”

Michael Ammermüller (SSR Performance, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 2nd overall: “We only have one chance tomorrow: we have to win the race and start from pole position. We knew that the Audi can be fast here, but we were a bit surprised by the actual pace. Hopefully the track will be wet tomorrow. That would definitely help us. It will be hard to win the title by ourselves tomorrow – something will definitely have to happen in the race if we are to do it.”

Thomas Preining (Küs Team Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 3rd overall: “We had a tough start to the season but, thanks hugely to the team, have managed to fight our way back. Thankfully, we are now very consistent and have finally arrived where we belong. Christian handed the car over to me in a very good position, after which I really did not have to do an awful lot more. If everything comes together tomorrow, we could definitely get another race like today.”

Christian Engelhart (Küs Team Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 3rd overall: “We had a very good car today, with which a lot is possible. Hopefully qualifying will be better for us tomorrow than it was today.”

Maximilian Buhk (Mann-Filter Team Landgraf – HTP/WWR), 5th overall: “Lello reported over the radio that the car had suffered some damage in the crash at the start, so I knew what to expect. The Mamba was not easy to drive, meaning I was able to maintain my position but could make no forward progress. Towards the end, the performance deteriorated dramatically, so I was far from unhappy when I saw the chequered flag. Given the circumstances, fifth place is okay. Failing to score three times this season, twice as a result of collisions that were no fault of ours, made it tough. We were well aware that we only had an outside chance at best, coming into the final weekend 26 points off the lead. And after all the cars ahead of us in the table finished ahead of us today, we no longer need to do the maths. Congratulations to the incredibly strong opposition, who will battle it out for the title tomorrow! We are no longer in the title race, but will do our very best to head into the winter break on the back of a good result.”