Round five of this season’s ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring produced some fascinating figures and stories. The Paddock Radar from Austria.
World champion on hand to present trophies Former downhill skier Nicole Schmidhofer was in Spielberg to check out the racing action in the ADAC GT Masters for herself. The Austrian won the super-G event at the 2017 World Championships. At the weekend, she was on hand to present the trophies to runners-up Finn Gehrsitz (Stuttgart) and Sven Müller (Bingen/both Team Joos by Raceaction) after race ten of the ADAC’s iconic GT series.
Change of perspective for Winkelhock Markus Winkelhock made over 120 appearances on the ADAC GT Masters grid. In Sunday’s race the former Audi driver saw the field from a new perspective at the current Formula 1 circuit. The 43-year-old sent the drivers into the race with the “Start your engines” sign from series partner Herrenausstatter.de.
Successful team principals Timo Bernhard had already shown that the circuit in the Styria region of Austria is a happy hunting ground for team principals. The two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans stood alongside Austrian Klaus Bachler on the top step of the podium at the Red Bull Ring in 2019. Michi Joos (Vöhringen/Team Joos by Racemotion) repeated that feat in race ten of the current season. Alongside Christian Engelhart (Starnberg/ Team Joos by Racemotion), the team principal claimed his maiden victory in the ADAC GT Masters. The team was also running two Porsche 911 GT3 R for the first time in Spielberg. “I am proud of the whole team. Winning has definitely made me want to get behind the wheel more often,” said Joos.
An expert at the wheel and on the mic Bruno Spengler (CAN) won race nine of the season alongside newcomer Maxime Oosten (NL/both FK Performance Motorsport) in a BMW M4 GT3. The 2012 DTM champion’s expertise was also in demand on the microphone. On the Track Safari on Friday afternoon, he pointed out the features of the 4.318-kilometre circuit in Styria to the fans on board his coach. “I really enjoyed that. The Track Safari is a super thing, as the passengers get to experience the speed of the race cars on the track at first hand. The whole bus seemed to move as the GT3 cars raced past us,” said Spengler.
Fans honour the winners You can’t get any closer to the ADAC GT Masters drivers than this: on Saturday and Sunday, two fans presented the podium candidates in the Pirelli Junior competition with their trophies. The visitors had taken part in a competition run by the ‘kronehit’ radio station and were delighted by the special experience.
GT3 debut for John Paul Southern John Paul Southern (USA/Liqui Moly Team Engstler) made a double debut at the Alpine circuit: the Audi driver was not only making his first appearance in the ADAC GT Masters, but was also starting his very first GT3 race. And with success: the American finished third in the Pirelli Junior competition in race ten of the season.
A talk with champions On Saturday evening, the latest episode of “PS on Air – The Ravenol ADAC GT Masters Talk” aired on the free YouTube channel @adacmotorsports. Among those talking to presenter Patrick Simon were ADAC Motorsport Director Thomas Voss and Kelvin van der Linde. The South African won the ADAC GT Masters in 2019. In Spielberg, van der Linde lifted the winner’s trophy after race 13 of this season’s DTM. Ricardo Feller (CH), ADAC GT Masters champion from 2021, was another of Simon’s guests.
Last-minute start That was a close one: on the way to the grid for race ten of the season, Ralf Aron (EST/Haupt Racing Team) lost his front-right tyre. A broken wheel support resulted in some hectic repairs on the grid. The Mercedes-AMG crew pulled together and managed to fix the damage and allow Aron to start the race on time.
