Round two of this season’s ADAC GT Masters at the Norisring provided some fascinating facts and stories. Here is the Paddock Radar from Germany’s only street circuit in Nuremberg.
Well-known guests On Saturday, former DTM driver Prince Leopold of Bavaria ensured the field was ready to race with the “Start your engines” sign from series partner Herrenausstatter.de. Jessica May, who plays for the 1. FC Nuremberg ladies team, also presented the trophy for third place to Finn Gehrsitz and Sven Müller. One day later, Carsten Lichtlein gave the signal for the drivers to fire up the engines in their GT3 cars. The former goalkeeper with the German national handball team also presented race winners Jannes Fittje and Nico Menzel with their trophies.
Hot wheels Races three and four of the ADAC GT Masters were the hottest of the year so far. On Sunday, the outdoor thermometer at the Norisring climbed as high as 35 degrees Celsius. Sitting in the cockpit of the GT3 cars was like being in a sauna. “The temperatures were over 60 degrees Celsius. It was pretty brutal,” said Tim Zimmermann. After the race sessions, the drivers were able to cool down with fresh drinking water from the water dispensers provided by series partner BWT.
Local favourite in demand Maximilian Götz, 2012 ADAC GT Masters champion, was not only in great demand with the fans and autograph hunters at his first appearance of the season for the Haupt Racing Team. The 2021 DTM champion also demonstrated his motorsport expertise on the microphone and commented on the two DTM races for ProSieben alongside Eddie Mielke.
Double shift No fewer than five teams from the ADAC GT Masters were working a double shift at the Norisring last weekend. GRT Grasser Racing Team, Haupt Racing Team, Landgraf Motorsport, Liqui Moly Team Engstler, and Schubert Motorsport also lined up in the DTM. Schubert Motorsport claimed its first victory of 2023 in race five of the DTM season, courtesy of Sheldon van der Linde.
Armed with a microphone in the Fan Zone Patrick Simon went live at the Norisring on Saturday evening with “PS on Air – The Ravenol ADAC GT Masters Talk”. For the second programme of the year, the presenter and commentator joined the drivers in the DTM Fan Zone during the autograph session. Among those to analyse race three of this season’s ADAC GT Masters were Nico Menzel and Jannes Fittje. DTM drivers including Lucas Auer, Sheldon van der Linde, Mirko Bortolotti, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Olsen also joined him for a chat.
The long way round to the podium On Saturday, Elias Seppänen celebrated his maiden victory in the ADAC GT Masters together with Salman Owega. However, before the celebrations could really begin, Seppänen struggled with the driver’s door, which he was unable to open. The solution: the Finn climbed out of the passenger side of his Mercedes-AMG GT3. “I noticed the issue during the pit stop. Thanks to the win, I was able to laugh about it after the race,” said the Landgraf Motorsport driver.
New ‘coat’ The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 belonging to GRT Grasser Racing Team looked resplendent in new colours at the Norisring. Benjamin Hites and Marco Mapelli were at the wheel of the Italian super sports car, now in a bright green livery, at the 2.2-kilometre street circuit. The Lamborghini was still ‘dressed’ in dark red with black accents at the season-opener at the Hockenheimring.
From Silverstone to Nuremberg Christoph Huber filled his frequent flyer account with plenty of miles over the past few days. The team principal at Huber Racing arrived a little late at the team’s home event at the Norisring. Huber had previously been watching the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Silverstone, where his team lined up with four cars on the grid. On Saturday and Sunday he watched his two ADAC GT Masters drivers, Tim Zimmermann and Jaxon Evans, in action on the streets of Nuremberg. The Porsche duo finished third to claim a podium in the fourth race of the season.
The ‘Franconian Monaco’ and the ‘Green Hell’ Huber Motorsport claimed its maiden win in only the team’s fourth ADAC GT Masters race on Sunday, with Jannes Fittje and Nico Menzel taking victory on the streets of Nuremberg on Sunday. As well as the Porsche 911 GT3 R in the ADAC’s GT series, Reinhard Huber’s outfit also ran a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the Nürburgring Endurance Series. FK Performance was also in the Eifel, where it contested the six-hour race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife with a BMW 330i. The teams will pitch their tents at the Nürburgring again in the coming days: round three of the ADAC GT Masters forms part of the support programme at the ADAC Truck Grand Prix from 14th to 16th July.
