ADAC GT4 Germany: Sasse/Ortmann win spectacular Zandvoort race

Saturday’s race of the ADAC GT4 Germany on the Circuit Zandvoort delivered everything that makes breathtaking motorsport: close duels, gripping overtaking maneuvers and even the rain that set in mid-race offered the numerous spectators exciting entertainment.

Hugo Sasse (18, DEU) and Mike David Ortmann (22, DEU, both Prosport Racing) coped best with the challenging conditions. The Aston Martin Vantage GT4 duo celebrated their first win of the season in front of brand colleagues Ben Dörr (17, DEU) and Romain Leroux (19, GER, both Dörr Motorsport). Julian Hanses (24, DEU) and Theo Oeverhaus (17, DEU, both CV Performance Group) completed the podium in the Mercedes-AMG GT4.

“It’s a really crazy weekend. We’re overjoyed that things are going so well for us here. We made the right decisions in the race, so we can now celebrate with the whole team,” Ortmann cheered on the podium.

Sasse had already started the race from pole position. In initially dry track conditions, the 18-year-old pulled away from the rest of the field in a commanding manner. By the time the pit stop window opened, Sasse had built up a lead of a good four seconds.

“I think I had a very good stint. There were no mistakes or problems. So I was able to pull away well,” said Sasse. However, behind the Prosport driver, things really got down to business.

Marcel Lenerz (24, GER) initially held second position in the Toyota GR Supra GT4 fielded by Piro Sports – Burg Zelem Foundation. Vincent Andronaco (17, DEU, near Hamburg, Allied-Racing) in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, Ben Dörr and Jan Philipp Springob (21, DEU, Drago Racing Team ZVO) in the Mercedes-AMG GT4, were fighting for third place. The positions kept changing. A little later, the trio even caught up with Lenerz and finally overtook him.

Rain disrupts

Halfway through the race, rain set in around the 4.259-kilometre track in the Dutch North Sea dunes. For safety reasons, the race organizers decided to announce a full course yellow phase so that all vehicles could change drivers under yellow without hectic. With the rain getting heavier and heavier, the race control brought the safety car out onto the track immediately after the full course yellow.

The race was red-flagged around 18 minutes before the end. This enabled the entire field to safely switch to rain tires. After the restart, Ortmann, who had taken over from Sasse, did the same as his teammate, quickly pulled away from the front again and ultimately drove to victory, which also meant that Sasse triumphed in the junior classification. “Of course, my stint was relatively short due to the race interruption,” explained Ortmann. “I tried to stay on the track and hold the lead. That succeeded.”

Oeverhaus with a great final sprint

Less than a second behind, Leroux crossed the finish line in second place. The man in the final minutes of the race was Mercedes-AMG driver Oeverhaus, who moved up from eighth to third position and thus secured the first podium in the ADAC GT4 Germany for himself and his teammate Hanses.

Fourth place went to Max Kronberg (35, DEU) and Hendrik Still (34, DEU, both from W&S Motorsport) in a Porsche. At the end of the race, Still was also able to make up a few places with impressive overtaking manoeuvres. Fifth place went to teammates Nicolaj Møller Madsen (29, DNK) and Finn Zulauf (17, DNK, Königstein im Taunus, both AVIA W&S Motorsport) in front of the Toyota of Marcel Lenerz and Cedric Piro (24, DNK) as well as Springob and Nico Gruber (20, AUT ).

The Porsches of Moritz Wiskirchen (19, GER) and Alexander Hartvig (19, GER, both Allied Racing), Pavel Lefterov (24, GER) and Stefan Bostandjiev (18, GER, both Overdrive Racing) as well as Andronaco and his teammate Leo Pichler (20/AUT) completed the top ten. Victory in the Trophy classification went to Tom Kieffer (47, LUX) and Christian Kosch (45, LUX, both Allied Racing) in another Porsche.

Dates ADAC GT4 Germany 2022 (subject to change):

April 22-24, 2022: Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
May 20-22, 2022: Red Bull Ring (A)
June 24-26, 2022: Circuit Zandvoort (NL)
05.-07.08.2022: Nürburgring
September 23-25, 2022: Sachsenring
October 21-23, 2022: Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg

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