Seppänen and Kalender take victory in the final race in Hockenheim. Second place for Köhler and Oosten. Seppänen first winner of the “Road to DTM” competition.
Newly-crowned champions Elias Seppänen (FIN) and Tom Kalender (Hamm/Sieg) produced another dazzling performance in the final race of the 2024 ADAC GT Masters on Sunday. The youngsters from Landgraf Motorsport enjoyed a perfect end to the season, claiming their fifth victory of the season in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. “As we no longer had anything to prove, we were totally liberated and just wanted to have fun again in the final race. We definitely did that with the victory,” said Seppänen, who this year made ADAC GT Masters history as the first winner of the “Road to DTM” competition. Kalender agreed: “It was a great and, above all, exciting race. We had a super fight with the BMW, from which we fortunately came out on top. It certainly feels awesome to end the final race of the season as winners again.” Second place went to Maxime Oosten (NL) and Leon Köhler (Erlenbach am Main) from FK Performance in a BMW M4 GT3. In third place were the Swiss pairing of Jean-Luc D´Auria and Alain Valente in a Ferrari 296 GT3 for Emil Frey Racing. The 2024 Team Championship was won by Haupt Racing Team, which impressed with consistently good results throughout the season.
The early stages of the final race at the 4.574-kilometre circuit were dominated by a spectacular battle at the head of the field. No sooner had the race started than Seppänen overtook pole-sitter Valente, who was able to retake the position but was ultimately unable to fend off the Mercedes-AMG and then the BMW of Köhler. Valente consequently found himself down in third place. The two beneficiaries then set about pulling clear of the rest of the field. However, the shorter stationary time during the mandatory pit stop allowed ProAm driver Alexander Schwarzer (D) to take the lead for Fach Auto Tech in a Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Porsche driver also benefitted from an intense three-way battle between Kalender in the Landgraf Mercedes-AMG, Oosten in the FK BMW, and D´Auria in the Emil Frey Ferrari. By the end of the race, however, the leader’s advantage had evaporated. Kalender and Oosten spotted their opportunity to overtake, and did precisely that. Kalender went on to take the chequered flag, followed by Oosten. “I really enjoyed the fight with Tom. Unfortunately, we did not come away with the win, but we are still happy with the result,” said Oosten.
When D’Auria and Juliano Holzem (Polch/Land Motorsport) overtook the Fach Porsche in their Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2, it set up a breath-taking battle for third place, with the Ferrari eventually coming out on top to clinch the third and final spot on the podium. “It was a fierce battle, but that is what makes the series so special and is what the fans want to see. It is definitely great to end the season with another podium,” said Valente, summing up the final spurt from his team-mate D´Auria. Schwarzer, who has hitherto performed impressively against the Silver drivers, retired after a crash in the Sachs-Kurve turn shortly before the end of the race.
Fourth across the finish line were the Holzem twins Sandro and Juliano, ahead of the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 of Tim Zimmermann (Langenargen) and Chilean Benjamin Hites. From 15th on the grid, Finn Wiebelhaus (Obertshausen) and Jannes Fittje (Langenhain/both Haupt Racing Team) followed on where they left off on Saturday, producing an impressive fightback that eventually saw them take sixth place in the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Salman Owega (Cologne) and David Schumacher (Salzburg) were seventh in the Haupt team’s second Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Kapfinger twins Johannes and Michael (both Passau) from Team Joos by Twin Busch finished eighth in a Porsche 911 GT3 R, ahead of Denis Bulatov (Cologne) and Mike David Ortmann (Ahrensfelde) in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for Walkenhorst Motorsport. Kwanda Mokoena (ZAF) and Max Reis (Ramstein/both Haupt Racing Team) guided their Mercedes-AMG GT3 from 14th to tenth place. Pablo Schumm (Heilbronn) and Jonas Karklys (Lithuania) won the ProAm class in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 run by Liqui Moly Team Engstler by NordVPN.
