Salman Owega and Elias Seppänen come into the final two races as favourites. Three titles still up for grabs in the ADAC GT Masters in Hockenheim. Schnitzelalm Racing makes a guest appearance with two Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The title race in the ADAC GT Masters will be decided this weekend (20th to 22nd October). Salman Owega (Cologne) and Elias Seppänen (FIN/both Landgraf Motorsport) arrive at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg as championship leaders. The two Mercedes-AMG drivers’ closest rivals are Finn Gehrsitz (Stuttgart) and Sven Müller (Bingen) in the Porsche 911 GT3 R run by Team Joos by Racemotion. Fellow Porsche drivers Jannes Fittje (Langenhain) and Nico Menzel (Kelberg/both Huber Motorsport) are also looking to have a say in the battle for the title. A total of five teams with sports cars from premium manufacturers Mercedes-AMG, Porsche, BMW and Lamborghini are still in with a chance of winning the title. The destination of the trophies in the Pirelli Junior competition and the Team championship will also be decided at the 4.574-kilometre circuit near Heidelberg. TV partner Sport1 will report live on race eleven (Saturday, 16:05) and the final race (Sunday, 15:15) of this season’s ADAC GT Masters in Hockenheim.
Owega and Seppänen find themselves in the perfect position going into the final race weekend: their four wins and points tally of 158 put the two youngsters, who also lead the Pirelli Junior competition, in pole position in the ADAC GT Masters title race. The duo holds a comfortable 20-point lead ahead of the last two races. “We have a decent lead, but must remain focussed. This season has shown that quite a lot can happen. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 runs well at every circuit, so I am very positive. Along with the Nürburgring, Hockenheim is my home race in Germany. It takes me about 90 minutes to get here. That is very special for me,” says Seppänen, who lives in the town of Limburg in the German state of Hesse. The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg is also a home outing for the championship leader’s team. Landgraf Motorsport is based in Gensingen in the Rhineland-Palatinate, roughly one hundred kilometres from Hockenheim. The Mercedes-AMG team has the chance to make history in the ADAC GT Masters. Last season, Raffaele Marciello (CH) was crowned ADAC GT Masters champion with founder Klaus Landgraf’s team. Never before has a team produced the champion driver in back-to-back seasons.
The former Formula 1 circuit has already proven to be a promising venue for second-placed Gehrsitz and Müller. The Joos duo’s only win of the season so far came at the opening round at the same venue. With 56 points still up for grabs, Fittje and Menzel also still harbour ambitions of lifting the trophy as champions. They currently lie third with 135 points. The Lamborghini pairing of Benjamin Hites (CHL) and Marco Mapelli (I/both GRT Grasser-Racing-Team) and BMW drivers Eduardo Coseteng (PHL) and Ben Green (GBR/both Schubert Motorsport) have little more than a mathematical chance of winning the championship.
The Team competition is still wide open: Team Joos by Racemotion leads an exciting three-way battle for the title. Just seven points separate them from Landgraf Motorsport and Haupt Racing Team in third place. The latter will again be assisted by Maximilian Götz (Uffenheim). The 2012 ADAC GT Masters champion starts alongside Romania’s Petru Umbrarescu for Hubert Haupt’s team.
A number of guest starters have signed up for the finale. Schnitzelalm Racing is making its second guest appearance in the ADAC’s iconic GT series. Local favourite Marcel Marchewicz from Schwetzingen and Moritz Wiskirchen (Euskirchen) share one cockpit, with Christer Jöns (Ingelheim) and Luca Arnold (Pfronstetten) alternating at the wheel of the second car.
After free practice on Friday, qualifying at 09:00 on Saturday will determine who starts race eleven of this season’s ADAC GT Masters from pole when it gets underway at 16:05. The final race takes place at 15:15 on Sunday. TV partner Sport1 is showing all the deciding races live and in full on free-to-air TV. The sessions will also be streamed live on the free YouTube channel @adacmotorsports.
