They dominate the Oschersleben motorsport arena at will. The Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II fielded by Rutronik Racing has been dominating events at the start of the ADAC GT Masters season since the official test drives two weeks ago. The competition rubs their eyes in amazement.
Best time in the test drives two weeks ago, two best times in the test drives on Thursday, best time in both practice sessions on Friday: The Rutronik-Audi #27 (Marschall/Schramm) and the Rutronik-Audi #15 (Niederhauser/Engstler) seem to be untouchable . But why is that?
First of all, there is the new Evo stage of the Audi R8 LMS GT3. The Evo II package is such a big step that BoP guardians of various series seem to have been taken by surprise.
At the start of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS, Ex-VLN), the Land Audi was only just beaten by the Manthey Porsche with the A team. At the GT World Challenge (GTWC) Europe in Imola, the WRT-Audi #32, manned by professionals, dominated the action. Now the same is happening with Rutronik Racing in Oschersleben.
The competition is certain: In order to catch the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II again, at least 20 kilograms of additional weight would be necessary. Several other manufacturers say: 1:22.8 or maybe 22.7 would have been possible on Friday, but a 22.5 was definitely not within the realm of possibility.
But even in the Audi warehouse, people are amazed. “We can’t keep up with that at the moment,” says champion Ricardo Feller from Land-Motorsport to “Motorsport-Total.com”. “We’re still behind there. I hope that we’ll find something on the set-up by tomorrow.”
“I think they’re just well prepared,” said the Swiss with regard to the 2019 championship team. “They’ve always been strong here in the past. That’s why I think they just have the car in a slightly better window at the moment, don’t they maybe also for the conditions or the new tires.”
Dennis Marshall sees two opponents
Dennis Marschall doesn’t even try to push away the role of favourite. That wouldn’t be credible anyway after three daily best times by himself (pre-season test, Thursday test, Friday).
“Of course that’s nice, but in the end the best times are of no use. On the contrary: you always think that it can only get worse,” says the Audi works driver in an interview with “Motorsport-Total.com”.
“If we were suddenly only on the fourth row in the race, we would of course ask ourselves how things can go so well in practice and not in qualifying. On the other hand, I’d rather that than looking for time in free practice and… then going into qualifying with question marks.”
Despite three best times in six sessions so far this season (two each in the pre-season test, Thursday test and Friday), Marschall’s qualifying on Sunday (Schramm drives on Saturday) will not be a sure-fire success, as he believes.
“For me there are two opponents who are really strong: Patric [Niederhauser], who is in the same car, and Raffaele Marciello also look very strong. If you look through the times, you can see that they are at the front, or even faster. There are certainly many others with the music, but we will see that in qualifying.”
In all probability there will be a new course record in qualifying. Times in the deep 1:22 range are expected – unless it rains overnight, which it doesn’t look like. The new Pirelli tires alone bring half a second, plus the Audi’s Evo II package.
How are Schramm and Engstler doing?
Since the ADAC GT Masters is a team sport, the teammates also have to keep up. Kim-Luis Schramm can be fast, but so far only in a small window. This is exactly where the Audi’s Evo II package should help.
Marshal is confident: “The Evo package helps me too, but Kim especially. He’s fully up to speed. That’s why I’m more optimistic than I’ve been for a long time.” Schramm secured the best time in the final practice session on Friday afternoon.
In the other car, ex-champion Patric Niederhauser is out of the question. The question mark here is GT3 newcomer Luca Engstler. His pre-season didn’t go as planned. His pre-season preparation suffered after the 24 Hours of Dubai.
“We actually wanted to start testing in Spain early, but then had a small outbreak of corona within the team,” says the son of ex-racing driver Franz Engstler. “That’s why we canceled the test days in Spain and concentrated on Germany here. We were in Hockenheim and once in Oschersleben. But that’s relatively little, especially since the temperatures weren’t what we can expect.”
He admits that “a little more work” is needed on his part. “But it’s just the way it is now. You don’t have to worry about it for long. We have to make the best of it. The car is running, which means that this excuse has already been canceled for me.”