Second victory for Porsche duo Engelhart / Ammermüller
Strong performance: Christian Engelhart (33 / Starnberg) and Michael Ammermüller (34 / Rotthalmünster, both SSR Performance) not only secured victory in Saturday's ADAC GT Masters race at Hockenheim, but also took the lead in the standings. Last year's champions Patric Niederhauser (28 / CH) and Kelvin van der Linde (24 / ZA, both Rutronik Racing) came second in the best Audi R8 LMS, while Lamborghini drivers Tim Zimmermann (24 / Langenargen) and third place Steijn Schothorst (25 / NL, both GRT Grasser Racing Team). "We had a great car again today," said winner Michael Ammermüller happily. “The team did a great job again. Christian laid the foundation for our success with his overtaking maneuver in the battle for the lead”.
Christian Engelhart and Michael Ammermüller made their mark on the race early on. Engelhart stayed behind pole-setter Dennis Marschall (24 / Eggenstein, Rutronik Racing) in the Audi in the early laps. But when the race was reopened on lap eight after an interruption to recover a loose advertising panel, the Porsche driver's hour struck. Engelhart took advantage of the slipstream and passed local hero Marschall before the hairpin. After the driver changes, partner Ammermüller maintained the lead. He controlled what was happening and in the meantime created a time cushion of almost five seconds. Finally, with a lead of 1.8 seconds, he was the first to see the checkered flag. Thanks to their second win of the season, Engelhart and Ammermüller took the lead in the overall standings for the first time this season.
Second place went to defending champions Patric Niederhauser and Kelvin van der Linde. Niederhauser was fourth to hand over the car to his partner, who moved up several places right at the start of his stint. Third placed Tim Zimmermann and Steijn Schothorst made up even more positions on the way to the podium. Starting in ninth place, Schothorst in particular showed a strong chase in the second half of the race. The reward: the first podium in the ADAC GT Masters. Zimmermann also won the Pirelli Junior classification.
There were also numerous overtaking maneuvers in the battle for further positions. Klaus Bachler (29 / A) and Simona De Silvestro (32 / CH, both Küs Team75 Bernhard) secured fourth place with their Porsche ahead of Franck Perera (36 / F) and Albert Costa Balboa (30 / E, both GRT Grasser Racing Team) in another Lamborghini.
The best Mercedes-AMG drivers were Philip Ellis (27 / GB) and Raffaele Marciello (25 / I, both Knaus-Team HTP-Winward) in sixth place. Seventh place went to Robert Renauer (35 / Vierkirchen) and Sven Müller (28 / Bingen am Rhein, both Precote Herberth Motorsport), who were initially third for a long time with their Porsche.
Audi drivers Max Hofer (21 / A) and Christopher Haase (32 / Kulmbach, both Montaplast by Land Motorsport) finished eighth, Indy Dontje (27 / NL) and Maximilian Götz (34 / Uffenheim, both men Filter-Team HTP-Winward). Pole setter Dennis Marschall (24 / Eggenstein) and Carrie Schreiner (22 / Völklingen, both Rutronik Racing) had to be content with tenth place in the end.
The previous championship leaders Maro Engel (35 / Monte Carlo) and Luca Stolz (25 / Brachbach, both Toksport WRT) finished 18th in their Mercedes-AMG without points. Elia Erhart (32 / Röttenbach, EFP Car Collection by Tece), who shares an Audi with Pierre Kaffer (43 / Schlieren), won the Pirelli Trophy for non-professional drivers for the first time.
Voices of the winners:
Michael Ammermüller (SSR Performance, Porsche 911 GT3 R):
"For us, Christian's overtaking maneuver against the leader up until then was decisive. My job was then to manage our lead and not make any mistakes. I was on the limit by the end of the race. but without putting too much strain on the car. "
Christian Engelhart (SSR Performance, Porsche 911 GT3 R):
"After a difficult start to the race, it was important not to make any mistakes at first. Unfortunately, the race was interrupted at a time when we had only just got into the rhythm. With the restart I was able to follow Dennis [Marschall] and The overtaking maneuver was an important step in order to then pull out a small but sufficient buffer. The traffic on the track had more or less dictated the timing of our pit stop, but in the end we hardly lost any time and were able to win drive back home."