Team Joos Sportwagentechnik competed with a top driver pairing and high expectations at the start of the ADAC GT Masters season at Oschersleben. With Porsche drivers Christian Engelhart and Ayhancan Güven, the team led by team principal Michael Joos had legitimate hopes of leading positions. While the team was able to move up to sixth place on Saturday despite bad luck in qualifying, a controversial penalty after the start on Sunday dashed all hopes of a good race.

On Saturday, experienced Porsche driver Christian Engelhart climbed the Joos-Porsche 911 GT3 R and tackled the first qualifying of the year in cold conditions. The 35-year-old was on his way to his fastest lap when the session had to be interrupted due to an accident. Since Engelhart crossed the finish line only fractions of a second after the red flag, his fastest lap, which would have been enough for third place on the grid, was then cancelled. So the German had to make do with the starting position nine. A bitter moment for the team, as the starting position is extremely important on the anti-overtaking track in the Börde. With a good start and a flawless race, Christian Engelhart and his partner Ayhancan Güven, who took the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R towards the halfway point of the race, were able to work their way up from ninth place to sixth place and thus secure important points for the championship.

The race Sunday was a day to forget for team Joos Sportwagentechnik. Even qualifying, in which all Porsche cars had difficulties, did not go optimally at all for the Turk Ayhancan Güven, who only placed the Porsche in 18th place in the Twin Busch design. At the start in the back midfield, it is regularly very close. After a touch in the starting frenzy, the team was given a drive-through penalty, which deprived the driver duo of all chances of a good position. Nevertheless, they finished the race to take important kilometers with them. The race speed of the Porsche was very pleasing, so that the team is optimistic about the next race in Spielberg.

Michael Joos, Team Principal: "The whole team did a great job and the team worked like clockwork. We made absolutely no mistakes and I'm very proud of that! Unfortunately, circumstances have prevented better results. On Saturday we had bad luck in qualifying, but a good race. We just have to tick off Sunday and concentrate on the upcoming races. A big thank you to the whole team for this great work!"

Christian Engelhart: "Even if not everything went optimally this weekend, we are taking a lot of positive things with us! The team prepared the car very well and we were definitely competitive. On Saturday, the circumstances cost us a better position in qualifying. Nevertheless, with a good race and P6 we got the maximum out of it in the end. On Sunday, after the drive-through penalty, there was nothing left to get right at the beginning. But even there the car was very strong, so I'm optimistic about the next races and I'm sure that there will still be very good results."