95 track limit violations in first practice, 63 in second practice. Friday at the ADAC GT Masters was strongly reminiscent of the horror year 2020, when there was even an additional driver briefing because the race control couldn’t keep up. Everything worked so well in 2021. So what happened?
Actually not much. Because only one position has changed compared to 2021. ‘Motorsport-Total.com’ spoke to several parties and actually nobody is concerned. The track limits shouldn’t be a problem for the rest of the weekend.
How can that be? “It was no different last year,” says Sven Stoppe, race director of the ADAC GT Masters since 2021. “On Friday the drivers will test exactly what works and what doesn’t. I don’t see that very critically. I don’t expect any major problems for the rest of the weekend either.”
Since 2021, the track limits on the Red Bull Ring in the ADAC GT Masters have been monitored using bollards. What happens in between doesn’t matter, but from the bollard the vehicle must be back on the track.
But there has been a small change. After Maro Engel’s accident at the start in 2021, the bollard in the Lauda curve was removed again. The end of the “baguette” curb (aka “sausage curb”) is now used as a reference.
The drivers are very satisfied with the regulations. “I’m very satisfied,” says Oschersleben winner Fabian Schiller. “The ADAC made the right decisions there, especially in the last two corners. There are constant reports with normal handling. That was solved really well.”
“Unfortunately, track limit regulations are a big topic on every racetrack these days, including here. But the current ADAC rules handle that very well. That gives us drivers more leeway and makes it easier for race control.”
Warnings for six plus one driver
Frank Bird from the Landgraf team is happy about the quick feedback: “If you make a mistake, you’re told about it straight away in the car. You know where you’re doing wrong and it’s not too strict. I think that’s good.” That’s exactly why the drivers tested what’s possible and what’s not, in order to be perfectly prepared for qualifying.
Incidentally, the only vehicle that was completely unscathed was the Joos Porsche #91 (Engelhart/Güven). “We passed,” laughs ex-champion Engelhart. “I think the solution in turn 1 is better than last year. Because we saw a few accidents there. That was decided correctly.”
Nevertheless, some track limit violations had consequences for individual drivers. Jan Marschalkowski (ZVO), Niklas Krütten, Nick Catsburg (both Schubert), Mick Wishofer, Frank Perera (both Emil Frey), and Maximilian Paul (T3) each received a warning because they left the track three times. If there are five warnings, there is a penalty of ten places. In 2021 this was still the case with the three of them.
Series newcomer Leon Köhler has also received a warning. In the first free practice he crossed the line at the pit entrance with the #44 ID Porsche (Köhler/Evans).
There is another change on the track compared to last year, but this has no effect on the track limits: the Baguette curb was removed at the exit of turn 7 after several vehicles recently broke their front splitters.