Paddock Radar from Zandvoort

The second race weekend of the 2024 ADAC GT Masters at Circuit Zandvoort produced some fascinating figures and stories. Here’s the Paddock Radar from round two of the season on the North Sea coast of the Netherlands.

Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen were guests on ‘PS on Air’ © Photo: ADAC

ADAC GT Masters drivers on ‘PS on Air’

Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen from Landgraf Motorsport were guests on the live talk show ‘PS on Air’ on Saturday evening. Former racing driver Patrick Simon sat down with the duo to analyse their second win of the season. He then spoke to five-time DTM champion Bernd Schneider, who is using his vast wealth of expertise to support the Landgraf Motorsport drivers this year. The full episode is available here.

Maxime Oosten became the fifth Dutchman to win in Zandvoort © Photo: ADAC

First home success since 2017

Maxime Oosten triumphed at Circuit Zandvoort to become the fifth Dutchman to win on home soil. The last man to win in front of a home crowd at the circuit in the North Sea dunes was Renger van der Zande in 2017 for the Callaway Competition team. Jaap van Lagen bagged a brace of victories for Schütz Motorsport in 2014, making him the most successful Dutch driver in the ADAC GT Masters in Zandvoort. Back in the 2012 season, the DB Motorsport team delighted home fans. The BMW team from Waddinxveen claimed the first and only all-Dutch success in the Netherlands, courtesy of Simon Knap and Jeroen de Boer.

Former footballer Arthur Numan presented trophies to the successful drivers © Photo: ADAC

Big names present trophies

Several prominent guests were responsible for presenting the trophies on the podium in Zandvoort. They included footballer Arthur Numan, who won 45 caps with the Dutch national team.

Zandvoort witnessed some thrilling fightbacks © Photo: ADAC

Spectacular fightbacks in both races

The only way was up for Leon Köhler and Maxime Oosten (both FK Performance) in Saturday’s third race of the season. Having missed qualifying due to a clutch issue, the BMW duo worked their way up to fifth place from their starting position of 14th. Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen from Landgraf Motorsport faced a big challenge from 16th place on the grid. However, a strong showing in Sunday’s race saw them finish a fine eighth. However, it was Alexander Schwarzer and Alexander Fach from Fach Auto Tech who produced the biggest fightback. They pulled off ten overtaking manoeuvres to guide their Porsche 911 GT3 R to second place overall. This was the first overall podium of the season for the only ProAm competitors in the field.

Elias Seppänen continues to lead the “Road to DTM” competition © Photo: ADAC

Seppänen leads the “Road to DTM”

Elias Seppänen continues to lead the “Road to DTM” competition with 97 points after the weekend in Zandvoort. He is followed by Maxime Oosten with 91 points and Tom Kalender on 87.

The event was extremely popular with the Dutch fans © Photo: ADAC

New crowd record in Zandvoort

The last time the ADAC GT Masters went racing in Zandvoort was in 2022. Back then, the total crowd figure of 14,500 represented a new record for the series at the circuit in the dunes. On its return to North Holland, as part of the DTM support programme, that record was broken as almost twice as many spectators – 28,000 – poured through the gates.

The Holzem twins celebrated their birthday at the racetrack © Photo: ADAC

Birthday at the track

Twins Juliano and Sandro Holzem from the Land-Motorsport team celebrated their 20th birthday on Sunday in Zandvoort. The two drivers from Polch gifted each other four valuable championship points in the race.

Paul Motorsport secured pole position in Zandvoort © Photo: ADAC

Maiden pole for Connor Primm

Lamborghini driver Simon Connor Primm secured his first pole position in the ADAC GT Masters in qualifying for race four of the season. And it was not only a maiden pole for the 19-year-old, but also his team Paul Motorsport.