Maiden win for Salman Owega and Elias Seppänen. Second podium in third ADAC GT Masters race for Huber Motorsport. Finn Gehrsitz and Sven Müller lead the championship after third place.
It was a perfect Saturday in the ADAC GT Masters for Salman Owega (Cologne) and Elias Seppänen (FIN): having secured pole position, the Mercedes-AMG drivers claimed a commanding lights-to-flag victory in the third race of the season at the Norisring. This was also the first success for the Landgraf Motorsport duo in the ADAC’s iconic GT series. “It feels super to stand on the top step of the podium for the first time in the ADAC GT Masters. I really benefitted from my good start and made sure that nobody came through on the inside in turn one. I was then able to open a lead. It was pretty hot in the cockpit. However, I managed to keep a cool head,” said 18-year-old Owega. He and Seppänen also triumphed in the Pirelli Junior competition. Jannes Fittje (Langenhain) and Nico Menzel (Kelberg) were runners-up in a Huber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R. Third place went to the pairing of Finn Gehrsitz (Stuttgart) and Sven Müller (Bingen/both Team Joos by Racemotion) in another Porsche.
The international field, consisting of drivers from twelve countries, lined up at the 2.2-kilometre circuit in summery temperatures of up to 32 degrees Celsius on Saturday afternoon. The crowds in the grandstands at Germany’s only street circuit saw pole-sitter successfully defend his position at the start. The racer from Cologne soon opened a comfortable lead and kept a cool head on the streets of Nuremberg. Seppänen, who had previously mastered the demanding street circuit in Monaco in a Formula car, then took his place in the cockpit and applied his experience between the walls and the crash barriers. The 19-year-old secured a comfortable victory, giving Klaus Landgraf’s team something to celebrate for the first time in 2023.
Menzel took over from Fittje at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R in second place, and went on to cross the finish line in the same position. “That was the first time I have been able to enjoy the great atmosphere at the Norisring during a race. I did push again at the end, but second place was as good as we could manage today. The fact that we have finished on the podium twice at this early stage in the season says a lot for Huber Motorsport as a newcomer to the series. We are now promisingly positioned in second place in the championship,” said Menzel. Third place went to Gehrsitz and Müller. The winners of race two of the season at the Hockenheimring started fifth and benefitted from an early pit stop. They have now moved to the top of the overall standings on the back of Saturday’s result. “Anything is possible at the Norisring. It is great that we finished on the podium. We consciously opted for an early stop, in order to avoid getting stuck in traffic in the middle part of the race. Our plan came off perfectly. Finn did a super job before me, and I was able to finish it off,” said Müller. Fourth place after an impressive performance was the best result of the season so far for Alain Valente (CH) and Ralf Aron (EST/both Haupt Racing Team) in their Mercedes-AMG GT3. Fifth place went to Lamborghini drivers Benjamin Hites (CHL) and Marco Mapelli (I/both GRT Grasser Racing Team).
Petru Umbrarescu (RO) and Maximilian Götz (Uffenheim/both Haupt Racing Team) came home sixth. Götz used his home advantage and climbed several places in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the second half of the race. They were followed in seventh by Tim Zimmermann (Langenargen) and New Zealander Jaxon Evans (both Huber Racing). The championship leaders coming into this race battled back well in their Porsche 911 GT3 R, having dropped back to tenth place at one point. Eighth across the finish line were Kim-Luis Schramm (Meuspath) and Igor Walilko (PL/both FK Performance Motorsport). Ninth place went to Eduardo Coseteng (PHL) and Ben Green (GB) in the Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Rounding out the top ten were Kwanda Mokoena (ZA) and Dylan Yip (MAC/Liqui Moly Team Engstler) in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2.
The ADAC GT Masters drivers line up for race four of the season at the Norisring on Sunday. Sport1 will broadcast the race, which starts at 15:15, live and in full on free-to-air TV. Prior to this, qualifying is scheduled for 08:45. The session will be streamed live and free of charge on the YouTube channel @adacmotorsports.
