Season 18 of the ADAC GT Masters produced some fascinating figures at the six race weekends in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. Over the course of the twelve races, spectators were treated to eight different winners, while the drivers amassed a grand total of 6,821 race laps.
The 2024 ADAC GT Masters saw 52 drivers from 14 countries on five different continents go head to head. The only female driver in the field, Taylor Hagler (USA) from Grasser Racing Team, was also the 13th woman to race in the ADAC GT Masters.
The high number of entrants in the new “Road to DTM” junior competition underlined the promising realignment of this season’s ADAC GT Masters as a new talent factory. This new classification proved to be extremely popular, with a total of 30 starters. Another consequence of the new orientation was that the first race of the season produced the youngest podium in the history of the series, with an average age of just 19.5 years. The first winner of this competitionwas Finland’s Elias Seppänen fromLandgraf Motorsport.
The most successful manufacturer in the 2024 ADAC GT Masters was Mercedes-Benz with nine wins from twelve races. Five of those victories came courtesy of the champions at Landgraf Motorsport, with Team champions Haupt Racing Team contributing the remaining four wins, including the 40th victory for Mercedes-AMG in the Saturday race at the Red Bull Ring. As well as the brand from Affalterbach, premium manufacturer BMW also made it onto the top step of the podium on three occasions with the FK Performance team. The season’s twelve races were won by eight drivers from three different teams.
The cream of the crop in the 2024 ADAC GT Masters season was the title-winning duo of Seppänen and Tom Kalender (Hamm/Sieg). The two Landgraf Motorsport drivers took the chequered flag as race winners on five occasions and made a further three appearances on the podium. Leon Köhler (Erlenbach am Main) and Maxime Oosten (NL) from FK Performance won three races, as did David Schumacher (Salzburg) and last year’s champion Salman Owega (Cologne) from Haupt Racing Team. Jannes Fittje (Langenhain) and Finn Wiebelhaus (Obertshausen), also from HRT, got their hands on the winners’ trophy once.
Seppänen also emphatically demonstrated his speed in qualifying sessions last season. The Finn secured three pole positions over the course of the six race weekends, giving him a remarkable pole rate of 50 percent. Schumacher set the fastest time in qualifying on two occasions. Behind the two Mercedes-AMG drivers were Oosten, Tim Zimmermann (Langenargen), Simon Connor Primm (Großschirma), Jean-Luc D´Auria (CH), Max Reis (Ramstein), Alain Valente (CH) and Marcel Marchewicz (Schwetzingen), each with one pole position.
Seppänen also became the first driver to win back-to-back titles. At just 16 years and six months, Kalender was crowned the youngest ever ADAC GT Masters champion.
2024 ADAC GT Masters champions Seppänen and Kalender led the field for more laps (101) than any other drivers. Three duos claimed lights-to-flag victories: Seppänen and Kalender (Zandvoort, Red Bull Ring), Köhler and Oosten (Oschersleben), and Owega and Schumacher (Nürburgring).
With five race wins to its name, Landgraf Motorsport enjoyed more victories than any other team. In second place in this statistic were the Team champions at Haupt Racing Team with four wins, followed by FK Performance, who took the chequered flag on three occasions.
Magical moment at the Nürburgring: Owega and Schumacher were rewarded for an impressive race weekend at the iconic racetrack in the Eifel mountains with a brace of wins. The Mercedes-AMG pairing were the only drivers to win two races at the same event in 2024.
Round three of the season at the Nürburgring was a historic one in several regards. The ADAC GT Masters was making its 20th appearance at the circuit in the Rhineland Palatinate, which this year hosted the debut of the new sprint and endurance format. The Sunday race also marked the 250th race in the history of the iconic series.
Ten different drivers recorded fastest race laps in 2024. ADAC GT Masters runner-up Oosten and Schumacher led this statistic with two fastest laps to their name.
This year’s field threw up a special first – two pairs of twins went head to head for the first time in the ADAC GT Masters. As well as the Kapfinger twins Michael and Johannes from Passau (Team Joos by Twin Busch), Juliano and Sandro Holzem (Land-Motorsport) also took their place on the starting grid.
Over the course of the 2024 season, the ADAC GT Masters drivers amassed a total of 6,821 race laps at the five different circuits. Sustainability played a key role, as the innovative Shell Blue Gasoline 98 fuel, which is made from roughly 50 percent renewable components, was used in the super sports cars. Next year, the ADAC GT Masters will run on a new synthetic and fossil-free fuel, which will reduce CO₂ emissions by 75 percent.
