Nicky Catsburg (34/NL) and the Schubert Motorsport team put all their eggs in one basket with the #20 BMW M4 GT3, and came up trumps. The Dutchman was the only driver to start Sunday morning’s second qualifying session on the slicks provided by series partner Pirelli, despite the track still being wet. And the risk paid off: Catsburg set the fastest time of 1:31.569 minutes on the final lap to claim his first pole position in the ADAC GT Masters.
“We were poor in the rain yesterday and wanted to do something different. At first, I was uncertain whether we should start on slicks in these conditions. Fortunately, my team convinced me. It was incredibly tough to keep the car on the slippery track at first. At the end of the qualifying session, with the track drying out, the tyres got up to temperature and the risk paid off,” said the winner of the Pirelli Pole Position Award, who shares the cockpit with Jesse Krohn (31/FIN).
Sven Müller (30/Bingen) employed more conservative tactics, but was also successful. He initially set a provisional fastest time with wet tyres on the #22 Porsche 911 GT3 R of the Allied-Racing team, before then switching to slicks. He also clocked his fastest time on the final lap of the 20-minute session and slotted into second place. Behind him, Jack Aitken (26/GB) qualified third in the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Emil Frey Racing, confirming the impressive performance of the Lamborghinis at the Lausitzring. Reigning German GT champion Christopher Mies (33/Düsseldorf) guided the #1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to fourth place for the Montaplast by Land-Motorsport team. Fellow Audi driver Dennis Marschall (26/Eggenstein) of Rutronik Racing again performed well in qualifying and ended the second session for race ten of the ADAC GT Masters at the Lausitzring in fifth place.
The tenth race of this season’s ADAC GT Masters gets underway at 13:00. The race action can be followed live on motorsport.tv or accessed later in the Mediathek.