David Jahn and Jannes Fittje win in the 718 Cayman GT4 from AVIA W&S Motorsport. Mercedes-AMG duo Bulatov/Lenerz narrowly beaten after lap-long duel. Gregor/Zulauf with third place and victory in the junior classification.

The excitement of the third race of the ADAC GT4 Germany season could hardly be surpassed. At the Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands, the ADAC sports car series again offered captivating motorsport. In a gripping duel for victory, the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 duo David Jahn (32, GER) and Jannes Fittje (23, GER, both AVIA W&S Motorsport) prevailed and thus celebrated the first win of the season for the Swabian manufacturer. Denis Bulatov (24, GER) and Marcel Lenerz (25, GER, both BCMC Motorsport powered by EastSide Motorsport) finished second in the Mercedes-AMG GT4, just beaten. The podium was completed by youngsters Daniel Gregor (17, DEU) and Finn Zulauf (18, DEU, Königstein im Taunus, both AVIA W&S Motorsport) in another Porsche. "We're really happy about the win and will certainly toast as a team today. Because we earned this triumph together,” said Jahn. “For me personally, there is also the fact that this is my first win in GT racing. That makes this day very special,” added teammate Fittje with a smile on his face and the trophy in his hand.

Jahn had already started the race from pole position and also asserted himself confidently at the start. Team colleague Daniel Gregor also had a good start and was able to take over second place directly from Marcel Lenerz. Mike David Ortmann (23, DEU) in the Prosport Racing Aston Martin was also able to overtake the Mercedes-AMG driver and take third place. A safety car phase after a collision in the back field initially brought some calm to the action-packed field. After the restart, Jahn showed his class and extended the lead to around two seconds up to the pit stop window. In the first half of the race there were no more changes in the other positions in the front field either.

“Of course, at the beginning of the race you want to gain a gap straight away so that you can get into a good rhythm – and also to use the tires as you see fit. I succeeded. So I was able to relax, complete my laps and hand over a good car to Jannes”, Jahn explained his assignment in the cockpit.

After the driver changes things got exciting behind the leading Fittje, who had taken over the Porsche from Jahn. Denis Bulatov overtook the Aston Martin of Ortmann/Hugo Sasse (19/Aschersleben) and took second place. Finn Zulauf in the Porsche lined up behind them, then benefited from a slip by Sasse and took third place. At the front, Bulatov then attacked the leading Fittje. Both then fought wheel-to-wheel for the lead over 20 minutes, but Fittje withstood the pressure from the Cologne Mercedes-AMG driver and crossed the finish line in first place with a narrow advantage of 0.680 seconds. “It got a little exciting at the end, but that was to be expected. The Mercedes-AMG closed the gap quite easily and I had to see that I could keep it behind me. It was close. But Denis is a very clever driver and it was therefore clear that he would not start any ill-considered action. The duel was very fair and a lot of fun,” said Fittje.

For Gregor/Zulauf, third place also meant triumph in the junior classification. Behind Ortmann/Sasse, Mex Jansen (17, DEU) and Nico Hantke (19, DEU, both Walkenhorst Motorsport) took fifth place in the BMW M4 GT4 ahead of their brand colleagues Tim Reiter (24, DEU) and Leon Wassertheurer (21, DEU, both Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport) as well as Marat Khayrov (36, KGZ) and Gabriele Piana (36, ITA, both Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport). Khayrov was also able to win the trophy ranking. Rodrigo Almeida (19, MOZ) and Josef Knopp (19, CZE, both BWT Mücke Motorsport) finished eighth. Ninth were Mohan Ritson (20, GBR) and Tom Wood (21, GBR, both FK Performance Motorsport) in another BMW. The top ten was completed by the Aston Martin duo Benjamin Lessennes (23/BEL) and Ricardo van der Ende (43/NLD,

Daniel Gregor – third place for AVIA W&S Motorsport “It has been a great race weekend so far with third place in qualifying and my first podium in the ADAC GT4 Germany. That's exactly where we want to be. Our pace was very strong because the team gave us a perfect car. My race start was great too, I was able to gain a position straight away. Then we had some bad luck during the pit stop. But Finn was able to regain a position and secure third place.

Finn Zulauf – third place for AVIA W&S Motorsport “The podium is indescribably beautiful. We were able to improve enormously compared to the first race weekend and took a big step forward. Daniel encountered traffic on his way to the pit stop, which cost us some time. That wasn't ideal. But after that I made up a place and was able to catch up a bit to the front runners. However, the gap was just too big to be able to intervene in the fight for victory. In race two on Sunday we want to be on the podium again - maybe we can even win.”