The seventh and final race weekend of this season’s German GT Championship provided some fascinating facts and stories. Take a look in the notebook.
Happy guest starters, despite misfortune
Seyffarth Motorsport was one of the original teams in the German GT Championship, and made its ADAC GT Masters comeback at the final weekend. The team from Querfurt in Saxony-Anhalt lined up with Robin Rogalski and Audi Sport customer racing driver Frédéric Vervisch at the wheel – in one of the two races, at least: shortly before the start of the Saturday race, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II encountered technical issues and had to remain in the garage. The two drivers were back in action in the final race and, despite the shortened appearance, were satisfied with their weekend. Frédéric Vervisch: “Unfortunately, we had a technical issue on Saturday, which prevented us from starting. On Sunday, everybody did a very good job, despite the short preparations. We wanted to bring the car home without any damage, despite some tough battles – and we managed that. On the whole, we were a little slower than the front-runners, but that is perfectly normal at first in such a strong series as the ADAC GT Masters. That was a learning weekend for us. I home we are back next season.”
10,971 times four
10.971 – that is the number of race laps completed in the 2022 German GT Championship. And every single one of those laps is worth four euros. That is how much the ADAC GT Masters and series partner BWT has been donating to b.waterMISSION since the start of the 2021 season. The organisation builds wells, primarily in Gambia and Tanzania, to allow people there access to clean drinking water. This year, the proceeds of the BWT Race Lap Award was bumped up to € 50,000.
Star performance
Victory in Sunday’s race, courtesy of Jules Gounon and Fabian Schiller, made Mercedes-AMG the most successful manufacturer in the 2022 ADAC GT Masters. The drivers from Drago Racing Team ZVO claimed four race wins this season, while Marvin Dienst and Jan Marschalkowski made it onto the top step of the podium once in the team’s second car. The new champion, Raffaele Marciello, won once with Maro Engel in the Mann-Filter Team Landgraf Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. That takes the total number of victories to six this season for the manufacturer with the star.
Costly promise
Shortly before the final weekend of the season, the Paul Motorsport team discovered a man-sized sculpture in its hotel. The team members immediately agreed that the sculpture was the spitting image of one of the crew’s mechanics and decided, should they finish on the podium, to buy the sculpture. After finishing third on Saturday, Paul Motorsport is out of pocket by € 1,500, but does now have a new team mascot.
Disappointing finale
The finale was a big disappointment for the crew of the #28 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport car. The Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Salman Owega and Christopher Haase was so badly damaged during the tests on Thursday, that it was unable to take its place on the grid for the races. “We could not have been more unlucky,” said team manager Christian Land. “During the test ahead of the weekend, Salman came off the track, which would not usually be a problem where the incident happened. However, the surface changes at that exact point, making the run-off area into a ramp. The forces at work at the take-off and landing were so great that the chassis suffered irreparable damage.”
Lights-to-flag podium
The number 29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport car enjoyed more success. Ricardo Feller and Jusuf Owega had already finished on the podium at the start of the season. The Audi duo won the Saturday race at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. In the final race of the German GT Championship, the duo finished runner-up to end the season where they began it: on the podium.
Dienst at the double
Marvin Dienst not only lined up in the German GT Championship in 2022, but also the Prototype Cup Germany. Fourth place at the 4.574-kilometre Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg was enough for Dienst and Berkay Besler to take overall victory. “Winning the title is a great way to end the season,” said a jubilant Sarper Sabuncu, team manager of Toksport WRT, who was able to rely on a strong pairing.
Worthy conclusion
After an absence of two years, due to coronavirus, the ADAC GT Masters finally held another championship party on Sunday. The winners of the Driver, Team, Junior and Trophy competitions were presented with their trophies in the Greschbachhalle at the Hockenheimring. The trophies for the German GT Championship were not the only ones presented: the winners of ADAC GT4 Germany, ADAC TCR Germany and the Prototype Cup Germany also received their silverware. ADAC Sport President Dr. Gerd Ennser and ADAC Motorsport Director Thomas Voss were on hand to congratulate the winners in person and present the trophies on the show stage. Presenter Patrick Simon moderated the evening, before the DJ ensured all those present were in high spirits into the night.
