Mercedes-AMG duo claims a commanding victory in the final race of the championship. Emil Frey Racing wins the Team competition in the ADAC GT Masters. More than 26,000 visitors watch the final weekend at the Hockenheimring.
Win number four in the final race of the season. Fabian Schiller (25/Troisdorf) and Jules Gounon (27/F) won Sunday’s final race of this year’s ADAC GT Masters at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg. After 36 laps of racing, Fabian Schiller crossed the finish line first in the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to claim their fourth win of the season. “This success is a nice way to end the season. We have shown again that we have a car capable of winning, and that we can challenge for the title. Unfortunately, mistakes have cost us. However, with four triumphs we end the season with more victories to our name than any other duo,” said Fabian Schiller, who finished third in the championship together with his team-mate at Drago Racing Team ZVO, Jules Gounon. 1.892 seconds behind them, the pairing of Ricardo Feller (22/CH) and Jusuf Owega (20/Cologne) finished runner-up in the #29 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Montaplast by Land-Motorsport. Feller set the fastest lap time of 1:39.604 minutes on his way to second place. Maximilian Paul (22/Dresden) and Marco Mapelli (35/I) repeated Saturday’s result, finishing third in the #71 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo for Paul Motorsport. The only title still up for grabs going into this season’s final race, the Team competition, was won by Emil Frey Racing.
Key facts, Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, Hockenheim, race 14 of 14
Circuit length: 4,574 metres
Weather: 17.7 degrees, overcast
Pole position: Ayhancan Güven (Team Joos Sportwagentechnik, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91), 1:37.899 min.
Winners: Schiller/Gounon (Drago Racing Team ZVO, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo #4)
Fastest lap: Ricardo Feller (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II #29), 1:39.604 min.
The crowds at the Hockenheimring were treated to a spectacular final race in the ADAC GT Masters. Pole-sitter Ayhancan Güven (24/TR) in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Team Joos Sportwagentechnik was passed by Jules Gounon and Ricardo Feller shortly after the start. As the race progressed, the 24-year-old was unable to match the pace of the two leaders and was also overtaken by the Lamborghini of Marco Mapelli. However, the Italian was given a penalty for being too forceful and fell back through the field. After the pit stop and mandatory driver changeover, nothing changed for a long time at the front of the field. On the final lap, Maximilian Paul managed to pull off a remarkable manoeuvre to overtake Christian Engelhart. That earned the man from Dresden third place, behind Fabian Schiller and runner-up Jusuf Owega. This year’s championship runners-up, Engelhart and Güven, finished a thankless fourth. Konsta Lappalainen (21/FIN) and Mick Wishofer (23/A) completed the top five in the #14 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Emil Frey Racing.
Nicky Catsburg (34/NL) and Jesse Krohn (32/FIN) of Schubert Motorsport once again showed great spirit. The duo in the #20 BMW M4 GT3 dropped well down the field after a collision, which they themselves caused, and the resulting penalty. However, they managed to recover to finish sixth. Thierry Vermeulen (20/NL) and Mattia Drudi (24/I) from Car Collection Motorsport climbed ten places to seventh in the #33 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Fellow Audi drivers Kim-Luis Schramm (25/Meuspath) and Dennis Marschall (26/Eggenstein) from Rutronik Racing guided the number 27 car to eighth place. They were followed home in ninth place by Niklas Krütten (20/Trier) and Ben Green (24/GB) in the second Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. The Allied-Racing pairing of Joel Sturm (20/Brühl) and Sven Müller (30/Bingen) also fought back strongly from 19th on the grid, eventually finishing tenth in the #22 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Jules Gounon: “Today was a good day. My start was perfect and I took the lead. Fabian then brought the win home. As a new team in the ADAC GT Masters, we have had a very good season. Our wins speak for themselves. However, we wanted to challenge for the championship, which we unfortunately did not manage to do.”
Fabian Schiller: “Jules handed the car over to me in the lead, and I was actually able to control the race quite comfortably from the front. Our car works very well on the Pirelli tyres, even when they are not yet up to the optimal temperature. That means we are often faster than our rivals at the start. On the whole, we have had a great season. The mechanics and engineers have given everything and done a fantastic job. There have been mistakes, but we win and lose as a team. We must now make sure that we learn our lessons from this season.”
Lorenz Frey-Hilti, team principal Emil Frey Racing: “It is brilliant to win the Team competition at the first attempt in our first season in the ADAC GT Masters. We did have a seven-point lead, but anything can happen in this strong and evenly-matched series. As such, I breathed a sigh of relief when we had done it. It is a shame that we dropped down to fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship. However, Konsta Lappalainen and Mick Wishofer did finish third in the Junior competition. It is particularly nice to see that the boys also did a great job.”
