First Porsche victory at the Sachsenring. Feller/Mies still top the table, Feller wins in the Pirelli Junior competition. Florian Spengler wins the Pirelli Trophy in an Audi.
A first at the Sachsenring: Porsche drivers Mathieu Jaminet (26/F) and Michael Ammermüller (35/Rotthalmünster, both SSR Performance) not only claimed their third win of the season in Saturday’s race in the German GT Championship at the Sachsenring, but also presented Porsche with its first victory at the challenging and undulating circuit in the ADAC GT Masters. Luca Stolz (26/Brachbach) and Maro Engel (36/Monte Carlo, both Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT) worked their way closer to the top of the table after their third second place in a row, while Audi drivers and championship leaders Ricardo Feller (21/CH) and Christopher Mies (31/Düsseldorf, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) finished third and continue to look good in the title race. “It is great that we claimed the first victory for Porsche here,” said Jaminet. “It was a perfect day: thanks to pole position and the win, we picked up 28 points. They are very important in the title race, as it is very close with several cars in with a shout again this year.”
Key facts, Sachsenring, Hohenstein-Ernstthal, race 9 of 14
Circuit length: 3,645 metres Weather: 21 degrees, sunny Pole position: Mathieu Jaminet (SSR Performance, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 1:18.426 min. Winners: Mathieu Jaminet/Michael Ammermüller (SSR Performance, Porsche 911 GT3 R) Fastest lap: Mathieu Jaminet (SSR Performance, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 1:20.312 min.
Jaminet leads the way
After Porsche works driver Jaminet had demonstrated his speed in qualifying, with his second Pirelli Pole Position Award of the season, he was also the dominant force in the first half of the race: the Frenchman stayed out in front at the start, and then opened a lead of roughly two and a half seconds over Luca Stolz in a Mercedes-AMG. Around the midway point of the race, the Mercedes-AMG works driver came in one lap earlier for his mandatory pit stop, but this strategy did not pay off. Jaminet’s partner Ammermüller held onto the lead and eventually won with a 2.102-second advantage over Maro Engel, who had taken over from Stolz. This was win number three of the season for former ADAC GT Masters winner Jaminet and defending champion Ammermüller, whose previous victories came in Oschersleben and at the Red Bull Ring. They climbed into second place in the championship on the back of their latest triumph.
Third place, roughly five seconds behind the winners, went to championship leaders Ricardo Feller and Christopher Mies in the best-placed Audi. Feller also won the Pirelli Junior competition. Their lead in the championship now stands at six points over Jaminet/Ammermüller and the pairing of Raffaele Marciello (26/I) and Maximilian Buhk (28/Hamburg, both Mann-Filter Team Landgraf – HTP/WWR), who put the third-placed Audi of Feller/Mies under pressure in the closing stages, but ultimately had to settle for fourth place in their Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Thomas Preining (23/A) and defending champion Christian Engelhart (34/Starnberg, both Küs Team Bernhard) climbed five positions in their Porsche to finish fifth and take their best result of the season so far. Charles Weerts (20/B) and Dries Vanthoor (22/B, both Team WRT) were sixth in an Audi, followed by Klaus Bachler (30/A) and Simona De Silvestro (33/CH, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) in another Porsche. Local favourite Maximilian Paul (21/Dresden) and Marco Mapelli (34/I) came home eighth in the best-placed Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo to score valuable points for Dresden-based team T3 Motorsport at their home event. Ninth place went to Igor Waliłko (24/PL) and Jules Gounon (26/F, both Zakspeed Mobil Krankenkasse Racing), who started from the front row of the grid in their Mercedes-AMG but had to complete a Penalty Lap due to an infringement at the start. Rounding out the top ten were Nick Yelloly (29/GB) and Jesse Krohn (31/FIN, both Schubert Motorsport) in the only BMW M6 GT3 in the field.
Victory in the Pirelli Trophy, for non-professional drivers, went to Florian Spengler (33/Ellwangen), who alternates at the wheel of the Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS with ex Formula 1 driver Markus Winkelhock (41/Zdiměřice).
Mriko Bortolotti (31/I) and Albert Costa Balboa (31/E, both GRT Grasser Racing), who came into the race weekend in third place, were unlucky. A technical issue forced them out of the race on lap 18, whilst running third.
Quotes from the winners
Mathieu Jaminet: “Being at the front of the field is a big advantage here, as you lose a lot of downforce in the fast corners if you are behind another car. I tried to open as much of a gap as possible before handing over to Michael. Our goal for today was to win, as we could not afford another poor weekend like we had at the Lausitzring in the battle for the title. As such, our approach was ‘all in’. We are closing in on the top of the table all the time. The title race is going to be interesting.”
Michael Ammermüller: “We are still in the race for the championship. Today was an important day for us. Mathieu did a superb job in qualifying and in the first stint. We both got the maximum out of the car. In the end, it was a close affair – as always in the ADAC GT Masters. Our goal is to be champions again. With our performance today, that goal is looking really good. Hopefully it will continue this way. That was a perfect race for us today.”