Six race weekends, twelve races, 16 winners and 5,404 laps of racing: the ADAC GT Masters again served up a feast of thrilling motor racing for spectators and fans. We take a look at the fascinating statistics from the events at five circuits in two countries.
With five wins to its name, Mercedes-AMG was the most successful manufacturer in the 2023 ADAC GT Masters. Landgraf Motorsport contributed four victories, Haupt Racing Team one. Porsche amassed four first places. Lamborghini was third with two wins, while FK Performance Motorsport ensured that a BMW team also made it onto the top step of the podium.
Over the course of last season’s twelve races, 16 different drivers won a race in the ADAC GT Masters. Seven teams and four manufacturers claimed at least one victory.
Salman Owega (Cologne) and Elias Seppänen (FIN) were the most successful driving duo in the 2023 ADAC GT Masters. In total, the champions from Landgraf Motorsport lifted the winners’ trophy on four occasions. Benjamin Hites (CHL) and Marco Mapelli (I/both GRT Grasser Racing Team) finished first in two races. Finn Gehrsitz (Stuttgart) and Sven Müller (Bingen/both Team Joos by Racemotion), Tim Zimmermann (Langenargen) and Jaxon Evans (NZ/both Huber Racing), Jannes Fittje (Langenhain) and Nico Menzel (Kelberg/ both Huber Motorsport), Maxime Oosten (NL) and Bruno Spengler (CAN/both FK Performance Motorsport), Michael Joos (Vöhringen) and Christian Engelhart (Starnberg/both Team Joos by Racemotion), and Alain Valente (CH) and Ralf Aron (EST/both Haupt Racing Team) each won one race.
In the twelve qualifying sessions, nine different drivers won the Pirelli Pole Position Award. Lamborghini junior Benjamin Hites secured three pole positions and was rewarded with important bonus points, as well as trophies from exclusive tyre partner Pirelli.
The 2023 ADAC GT Masters champions, Salman Owega and Elias Seppänen, recorded the highest number of laps as race leaders (169). Three driving duos claimed lights-to-flag victories: Benjamin Hites and Marco Mapelli (Nürburgring), Michael Joos and Christian Engelhart (Red Bull Ring), and Alain Valente and Ralf Aron (Hockenheimring).
Landgraf Motorsport claimed more race wins than any other team, with four victories to its name. They were followed in second place in this statistic by GRT Grasser Racing Team and Team Joos by Racemotion, who each picked up two wins. Huber Racing, Huber Motorsport, FK Performance Motorsport and Haupt Racing Team, who won the Team championship, all celebrated one victory.
Magical moment at the Sachsenring: Salman Owega and Elias Seppänen were rewarded for a strong weekend at the iconic circuit in Hohenstein-Ernsttahl with two race wins. The Mercedes-AMG drivers were the only racers to claim two wins at one event in 2023.
Lamborghini took over at the top of the list of manufacturers with the most pole positions in the history of the ADAC GT Masters, thanks to GRT Grasser Racing Team. Prior to the start of the season, Audi and Lamborghini were tied in first place in this statistic. A total of four fastest laps in qualifying from Benjamin Hites and Marco Mapelli saw the premium Italian manufacturer move clear on 52 pole positions.
Ten different drivers set the fastest race lap in 2023. ADAC GT Masters champion Salman Owega and Sven Müller led this statistic, each with two fastest laps to their name.
Landgraf Motorsport became the first team ever to successfully defend the Drivers title in the ADAC GT Masters. New champions Salman Owega and Elias Seppänen also went down in the history books as the youngest championship-winning duo. Only Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) was a little over a month younger than Owega when he won his title alongside René Rast (D) in 2014.
Over the course of the 2023 season, the ADAC GT Masters drivers completed a total of 5,404 race laps at the five different circuits. Sustainability played a key role here, as the super sports cars ran on the innovative fuel Shell Blue Gasoline 98, which is made from roughly 50 percent renewable components.
History repeats itself: Haupt Racing Team celebrated winning the Team championship in its first season in the ADAC’s iconic GT series. Emil Frey Racing achieved the same feat in its rookie year in the series in 2022. No fewer than seven new racing teams lined up, in the form of FK Performance Motorsport, Haupt Racing Team, Huber Motorsport, Huber Racing, NordPass by Juta Racing, Project 1, and Schnitzelalm Racing.
The overall lead in the ADAC GT Masters changed hands four times over the course of the season. However, Salman Owega and Elias Seppänen refused to be shifted from the top spot after round seven of the season at the Sachsenring, and were eventually crowned champions after race twelve at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg.
An international field of 42 drivers went head to head in the 2023 ADAC GT Masters. Benjamin Hites was the most successful of the 25 newcomers in the iconic GT series. The Lamborghini junior won two races alongside team-mate Marco Mapelli.
The closest victory was witnessed by spectators in the grandstands at the Norisring. In the fourth race of the season, at the spectacular street circuit in Nuremberg, Porsche driver Jannes Fittje took the chequered flag just 0.508 seconds ahead of the Porsche of Finn Gehrsitz. In contrast, ADAC GT Masters champion Salman Owega held the biggest lead in race eight of the season at the Sachsenring, crossing the finish line in his Mercedes-AMG GT3 roughly 21 seconds ahead of Lamborghini junior Benjamin Hites.
With five victories in the Pirelli Junior class, Salman Owega and Elias Seppänen were also unbeatable in the junior competition within the ADAC GT Masters.
