Round four of this season’s ADAC GT Masters at the Sachsenring produced some fascinating figures and stories. Here is the Paddock Radar from the first race weekend after the summer break.
Grid Walk instead of catwalk An unusual venue for model Rebecca Kunikowski: on Sunday, she visited the ADAC GT Masters grid at the DTM race weekend, where she used the “Start your engines” sign from series partner Herrenausstatter.de to send the drivers onto the track. As well as modelling, Kunikowski also has a successful acting career. The 40-year-old presented runners-up Benjamin Hites (CHL) and Marco Mapelli (I/both GRT Grasser-Racing-Team) with their trophy at the podium ceremony. Christian Gericke, CEO of bitkasten AG, did the honours for race winners Salman Owega (Cologne) and Elias Seppänen (FIN/both Landgraf Motorsport).
On the microphone Maximilian Götz (Uffenheim) was a busy man at the Sachsenring. He and team-mate Petru Umbrarescu (RO/both Haupt Racing Team) picked up the trophy for third place in race seven of this season’s ADAC GT Masters. The Mercedes-AMG Performance driver and 2012 champion also commentated on the two DTM races alongside Eddie Mielke for ProSieben.
Eventful weekend Jannes Fittje (Langenhain) spent his weekend at the Sachsenring regularly swapping between cockpits. He and his team-mate Nico Menzel (Kelberg) alternated at the wheel of the Huber Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R in the ADAC GT Masters. In ADAC GT4 Germany, meanwhile, he shared the driving duties in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS of Avia W&S Motorsport with David Jahn. The GT4 duo finished runner-up on Saturday, before Fittje secured pole position on Sunday morning.
Parallel outing in the ‘Green Hell’ Huber Motorsport had its hands full at the weekend. The Porsche team was not only competing at round four of the ADAC GT Masters, but also lined up in two races in the Nürburgring Endurance Series.
Victory at the virtual Sachsenring There was a high-quality showdown on the RaceRoom simulators in the DTM Fan Zone on Friday. ADAC GT Masters drivers Ben Green (GBR) and Nico Menzel took on DTM racers René Rast, Sheldon van der Linde, Marvin Dienst, Sandro Holzem and Tim Heinemann. In the end, Schubert Motorsport driver Green emerged triumphant.
On air On Saturday evening, “PS on Air – The Ravenol ADAC GT Masters Talk” was broadcast on the free YouTube channel @adacmotorsports. Among presenter Patrick Simon’s guests in the IG Fan-Box were two fascinating interviewees from the ADAC GT Masters, in the form of Götz and Menzel.
Stars shine at the Sachsenring Owega and Seppänen pulled off a first: up until the Sachsenring, no pairing had won both races on one weekend in the current ADAC GT Masters season. Landgraf Motorsport also became the latest Mercedes-AMG team to bag a brace of wins at the 3.645-kilometre circuit. In 2022, the ZVO team triumphed in both races in Hohenstein-Ernstthal.
