Reactions from the paddock after the Sunday race at round five of this season’s German GT Championship.

Jules Gounon (Zakspeed Mobil Krankenkasse Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo), 1st overall: “A really great day. I just love this circuit. It was here that I claimed my maiden GT3 victory in 2016. That kick-started my career. To win here again is fantastic. Everything came together. Pole, fastest lap and victory – it doesn’t get any better. This morning’s pole was fantastic. In my stint, I wanted to open a five-second gap for Igor – and I managed that. He then did a fantastic job of controlling the race. We are now the outsiders in the title race! With a 25-point gap to the leaders there is no pressure on us, we’ll just see what happens. Thank you to Mercedes-AMG and Zakspeed for the awesome car.”

Igor Waliłko (Zakspeed Mobil Krankenkasse Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo), 1st overall and winner of the Pirelli Junior competition: “It feels fantastic to win on a Sunday again! I actually did not come into this season expecting to achieve such great results. I tried to manage the tyres well and bring the car home safely. I am still learning a lot, this is my first full season in a GT3 car. Fortunately, I was able to relax a little more at the front today and did not have to push the car to its limits.”

Luca Stolz (Team Toksport WRT, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo), 2nd overall: “Rolf Ineichen really defended second place well. However, the mistake in the final corner gave me the opportunity to pull alongside him. He then pushed me quite a long way to the inside. It is great to be second again. The circuit here is renowned for being difficult to follow other cars, but I still tried everything to attack in every corner and somehow find a way past. We had a tough start to the season, but are now trying to make up ground again. Our goal is to win a race this season.”

Maro Engel (Team Toksport WRT, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo), 2nd overall: “The start went well for us and we got away well. I tried to get through the chaos at the start as unscathed as possible. The restarts were also very demanding. The amount of rubber on the racing surface makes it difficult to accelerate cleanly after the safety car and to keep the car on the track. We were then able to maintain our pace and the Luca’s manoeuvre at the end was awesome!”

Christian Engelhart (Küs Team Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 3rd overall: “I think that was precisely what we needed today – a great result for the team. It was a very good race. We did not expect that from eleventh on the grid. Thomas put in a great first stint and benefitted from the chaos in front of us, where he was on exactly the right line. After that, however, the team made good strategic decisions and we came into the pits at the right time. I then found myself fourth, was able to apply some pressure and eventually took third place and picked up a trophy.”

Thomas Preining (Küs Team Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 3rd overall: “The race could not have gone better. Qualifying was not ideal, but we ultimately got the maximum out of the race. The car was very good. We performed really well and made up positions at the start and the restart. We can be more than satisfied with third place, the team really needed this success. Thank you to the crew – hopefully we can back this up in Hockenheim.”

Joel Eriksson (Küs Team Bernhard, Porsche 911 GT3 R), DNF: “That was not the race we had hoped for. Qualifying was better than it looked on paper, as the set-up of the car was far better. Unfortunately, we were then unlucky with the red flag, which prevented us from qualifying higher up the grid. In the race, I was wedged in in turn one. There were multiple contacts and I suffered a puncture. I had to return to the garage, where we identified more damage and decided to retire the car. It is a shame, but there is nothing you can do about it. We are now hoping to do well in Hockenheim.”

Dries Vanthoor (Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS), DNF: “A pretty miserable day to end the weekend. We were unlucky with the red flag in qualifying. At the start of the race, it was pretty chaotic in turn one. Someone hit me from behind and I was then unable to avoid the Mercedes spinning in front of me because I was wedged in from the right and the left.”