Lamborghini driver Benjamin Hites (CHL/GRT Grasser-Racing-Team) set the fastest lap time of 1:38.616 minutes in qualifying for the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring. This means a driver from Gottfried Grasser’s team will start from pole position in the ADAC’s iconic GT series for the 20th time. Alain Valente (CHE/Haupt Racing Team) joins Hites on the front row of the grid in his Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the ninth race of the season on Saturday afternoon.
Temperatures around 13 degrees Celsius and a wet track at the 4.318-kilometre circuit in the Styria region made Saturday morning’s qualifying a real challenge. Armed with the Pirelli wet tyres, the ADAC GT Masters drivers improved with each lap during the 20-minute session. Nobody was faster than Hites, as the Nürburgring winner coped best with the conditions in his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. “I really wanted that pole. The Red Bull Ring is a home event for the team, which makes pole position all the more significant. I was on wets for the whole of qualifying. I felt it would have been too much of a risk to switch to slicks. Our plan is to go on the attack again and make up some ground in the championship,” said pole-sitter Hites. He and his team-mate, Lamborghini works driver Marco Mapelli (I), currently lie third in the table in the ADAC GT Masters.
Valente was second fastest (+0.318 seconds), backing up the fine form he showed with a podium in race eight of the season at the Sachsenring. Third place went to Michael Joos (Vöhringen). The principal of Team Joos by Racemotion was 0.475 seconds slower than Hites in his Porsche 911 GT3 R. Fourth place for Audi driver Jonas Karklys (LT/Liqui Moly Team Engstler) represented his best qualifying result in the ADAC GT Masters (+0.587 seconds). Salman Owega qualified fifth in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Landgraf Motorsport (+0.595 seconds). The man from Cologne leads the championship together with team-mate Elias Seppänen (FIN).
TV partner Sport1 is showing race nine of the season live and in full on free-to-air TV from 15:00. Fans can also follow the race action live on the free YouTube channel @adacmotorsports.
