Küs Team Bernhard signs defending champion Christian Engelhart
The racing team of two-time Le Mans winner and FIA endurance world champion Timo Bernhard has signed defending champion Christian Engelhart for the ADAC GT Masters. The German will share a Porsche 911 GT3 R with Porsche works driver Thomas Preining. The team exclusively revealed this secret on Sunday in the current episode of PS on Air - The Ravenol ADAC GT Masters Talk. The German GT Championship will take place from 14. – 16. May start the season in Oschersleben. All races will be broadcast live and in full length by the new TV partner NITRO.
Victories and titles as the goal
Engelhart is one of the most successful drivers in the ADAC GT Masters. Last year he won the drivers' championship for the first time together with Michael Ammermüller in the SSR Performance Porsche. The Bavarian has already won a total of 15 championship races. Partner Preining won an instant victory in its debut season in 2019. "The ADAC GT Masters is again the spearhead of our numerous motorsport programs this year, in this top league we want to show our capabilities as a team," says team principal Timo Bernhard. “With Christian we have been able to sign the current champion who will form a very powerful duo with Thomas, who has just been promoted to Porsche works driver. I am very confident that we will fight for top positions here.
Defending champion Christian Engelhart has already arrived at his new racing team: “When Timo and I talked over the winter, we quickly realized that it would be a good story. Together we want to fight for victories and titles this year - we will work hard together for that. The Team Bernhard family has already given me a warm welcome and in Thomas I have a super-fast team-mate whom I have already known from previous years. Now I can't wait to get started. "
Thomas Preining is happy about his return to the ADAC GT Masters: “I already drove in the ADAC GT Masters for one season in 2019, so I still have one bill to be reckoned with. At the moment I am working at home to prepare myself as well as possible for the season. I spend a lot of time in the simulator to get everything out of myself in advance so that I can be there from the start and hopefully fight for victories. The most important thing will be that we can get together as a team as quickly as possible and work well together. But I'm not worried about that. I think that in addition to the set-up work, we will mainly use the preseason tests to get to know each other well and to promote team building. I am sure that we are a strong team. We have a really good engineer Christian and I know each other relatively well, and I'm looking forward to sharing the car with him. I think we are a strong line-up, so a lot is possible. We just have to be careful not to make mistakes, not to write zeros and to always be consistently fast. Then all doors are open to us. "
Internal team innovations
In addition to the drivers, there are other changes in the Küs Team Bernhard. Timo Bernhard supports his sister Jennifer Leising for the first time and takes over the organization and team management. The start numbers for the two Bernhard Porsches are also new: Engelhart and Preining will drive the "911" with start number 75 this season, the sister car, the drivers of which will be announced later, starts with the 74th. The number 75 is a reminder Team to its roots: Rüdiger Bernhard, Timo Bernhard's father, started his motorsport activities in 1975. The design of the racing cars has also been modified. It was refreshed, but great importance was attached to ensuring that the identity and history of the team are not lost.
Well-known driver duo in the ADAC GT4 Germany
As in the previous year, the Küs Team Bernhard is racing a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 MR in the ADAC GT4 Germany. The racing team also relies on the tried and tested for the pilot duo: Alexander Tauscher (18 / Mitterfels) and Levi O'Dey (16 / Jülich) are contesting their second season with the team from Bruchmühlbach-Miesau after finishing second in the 2020 Pirelli Junior classification.
"I am very happy that we are continuing with our young talents in the ADAC GT4 Germany," said Timo Bernhard happily. “Both showed a lot of potential last season. Alex had his highlight with winning the start at the finals and Levi was particularly noticeable with his consistently fast laps on podium level. We would like to expand this potential as a team. "