The finale of this season’s ADAC GT Masters at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg produced some fascinating facts and stories. Here is the Paddock Radar from the race weekend near Mannheim.
Mercedes-AMG the car to beat in 2024
Victories for David Schumacher (Salzburg) / Salman Owega (Cologne/both Haupt Racing Team) and Elias Seppänen (FIN) Tom Kalender (Hamm/Sieg/both Haupt Racing Team) at the Hockenheimring Baden Württemberg presented Mercedes-AMG with their eighth and ninth wins of the season. That made the manufacturer from Affalterbach by far the most successful brand over the course of the whole year. No other manufacturer has ever managed to amass so many victories in one season, making it another record for the ADAC GT Masters history books.
95,000 watch the finale in Hockenheim
95,000 visitors watched the finale of the ADAC GT Masters from the busy grandstands at the Hockenheimring. Fans not only took the opportunity to collect autographs during the “Meet the Drivers” session, but also saw Elias Seppänen and Tom Kalender from the Landgraf Motorsport team clinch the title.
A hint of the Olympics
Sport brings people together: this was also true at the finale of this season’s ADAC GT Masters at the Hockenheimring. German athletes Lisa Mayer and Maryse Luzolo stopped in to see BMW team FK Performance. Luzolo won the long jump in the 2024 German championships, while Mayer won bronze in the 4x100m relay at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris. The two top athletes appeared to bring luck for FK drivers Leon Köhler (Erlenbach am Main) and Dutchman Maxime Oosten, who claimed a fine second place in the Sunday race.
Double night shift for Fach Auto Tech
The final weekend kicked off with two night shifts for the Fach Auto Tech team. After underbody had to be replaced after suffering too much damage during Thursday’s test. “We had to redo the underbody and the connection to the chassis, which meant we were working on the car until four in the morning. We could have improved matters with shims, but we wanted to have the car in perfect condition,” said team principal Alex Fach. He and his team place great importance on the renowned Swiss precision. On Friday, there was more work to do on the Porsche 911 GT3 R, which was damaged when driving aggressively across the kerbs. This time, the underbody only needed recalibrating. However, the team took the opportunity during the repairs to thoroughly clean parts that had become very dirty due to the rain. The crew from Sattel in the Swiss canton of Schwyz were hard at work in the team tent until two in the morning.
Successful guest starter
The Schnitzelalm Racing team has made two guest appearances in the ADAC GT Masters this season. Marcel Marchewicz (Schwetzingen) was immediately successful in qualifying for the Saturday race, securing pole position at his home circuit. In the race, he and his team-mate Jay Mo Härtling (Sprockhövel) narrowly missed out on victory but came home a fine second.
Plenty of home support for Max Reis
Ramstein’s Max Reis enjoyed great support from his fan club at his home event at the Hockenheimring. More than 100 members turned up to support the 17-year-old from the Palatinate region of Germany. Roughly 35 supporters followed the young driver’s races from the Fan Lounge, while a larger group cheered him on from the grandstands.
Bundesliga meets ADAC GT Masters
One day after the Bundesliga match between Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt on the Saturday, DFB referee Dr. Felix Brych made the trip to Hockenheim, where the 49-year-old presented the ADAC GT Masters trophies on the podium. Prior to the podium ceremony, the record-breaking referee witnessed a thrilling final race with a host of spectacular battles.
Bringing the curtain down in style: the “Night of the Champions”
Once all the titles in the ADAC GT Masters had been decided on Sunday, the most successful drivers were recognised for their achievements at the celebratory “Night of the Champions. Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen were honoured as overall champions and winners of the Silver Cup. Seppänen also won the title in the “Road to DTM” junior competition. In the ProAm class, the title went to Alexander Schwarzer (D) and Alexander Fach (CH) from Fach Auto Tech. Haupt Racing Team successfully defended the Team championship it won last year.
