In the end it got extremely exciting again: The Porsche team from Joos Sportwagentechnik celebrated their first victory in the ADAC GT Masters in Saturday’s race at the Lausitzring. Christian Engelhart and Ayhancan Güven secured the lights-to-flag victory after 37 rainy laps.
In the final phase, Güven had to fend off the attacks of Jack Aitken, who was coming up strong in the Emil-Frey-Lamborghini #63 (Costa/Aitken). Aitken brought about the decision himself on the penultimate lap with a spin in turn 6. The Paul-Lamborghini of Maximilian Paul and Marco Mapelli sensationally took third place.
Engelhart converted pole and fended off some early attacks by Patric Niederhauser in the #15 Rutronik Audi (Niederhauser/Engstler; 4th). After a few laps he was able to pull himself free and came to the pit stop with a safe cushion.
“It was extremely difficult to keep the concentration up. It’s so slippery out there, you can’t imagine it,” says Engelhart NITRO. “Actually, we wanted to stay out longer. At first I thought I had enough distance to the man in front, who came out of the pits. But then I opened up so quickly that we decided at short notice to come in.”
After the stop, the Porsche was in the lead and looked set for a sure win with Ayhancan Güven at the wheel. Luca Engstler threw the Rutronik Audi into the gravel and ended up falling back to P4. The two Lamborghinis, who now held second and third place, benefited from this.
But Aitken made it exciting again: He closed a gap of five seconds and drove up to the rear of Güven. Then, on the penultimate lap, he slipped at Turn 6 and spun, keeping Güven safe at the front. Aitken drove home second place.
It was the second time that Lambo #63 was spinning. Already during the pit stops, Albert Costa flew off when he was hit by Markus Winkelhock, who was just coming out of the pits. Costa was quick-witted and able to turn the wheel and didn’t lose any position. Without the goal, it might have been enough to win.
Paul Motorsport celebrated a huge success at the home race in third place. The team has been free since the separation from T3. It is the first podium for Maximilian Paul and the team in front of their home crowd.
“Mamba” carefully gropes its way forward
Behind Niederhauser/Engstler, Raffaele Marciello and Daniel Juncadella scored important points as fifth. Starting from P10, Marciello quickly moved up to sixth place, but then had to bow to a sensationally triumphant Marvin Dienst in the ZVO-Mercedes #8 (Dienst/Marschalkowski; DNF).
Marciello made up one place before the stop and handed over on P6. Daniel Juncadella then overtook his former teammate Jan Marschalkowski to finish fifth. The #19 Emil Frey Lamborghini (Perera/Rougier) finished sixth.
Marschalkowski was unlucky: Shortly before the end he was hit by Mick Wishofer in the #14 Emil-Frey-Lamborghini (Wishofer/Lappalainen; DNF), which ended the race for both cars. The situation created chaos in the bottom top 10 just before the end.
Ultimately, the Land-Audis #29 (Feller/J. Owega; 7th) and #1 (Mies/Zimmermann; 8th) benefited the most. The top 10 was completed by the Rutronik-Audi #27 (Marschall/Schramm; 9th) and the Dinamic-Porsche #11 (Bachler/de Leener; 10th). Klaus Bachler shone in the second stint and set the fastest lap times in the entire field – a clear announcement for Sunday.
Schubert Motorsport practiced damage control. Even in the rain, the BMW M4 GT3 didn’t do much, but in the end they cleverly picked up positions and finished eleventh and twelve. Special mention should be made of Niklas Krütten, who moved up to twelfth place in the first stint.
Drama about ZVO
The collision involving Wishofer and Marschalkowski wasn’t the only setback for ZVO Racing: The ZVO-Mercedes #4 (Gounon/Schiller; 17th) remained without points after a slow flat tire on the first lap. As a result, Fabian Schiller half turned away, was hit by a Lamborghini and had to have the tire changed.
“Very unfortunate for us, unfortunately, we had a slow puncture on the first lap,” says Schiller NITRO. “That’s what caused the spin and that’s why I pitted. To be honest, I don’t know [wie er zustande kam]. Sure, there were a few touches in turns 1 to 3, but that’s normal. Maybe it was a curb.”
The #22 Allied Porsche (Müller/Sturm; 15th) also suffered a setback in the championship fight. There was a penalty loop for a pit stop violation. In addition, the Porsche still has to survive an investigation by the stewards for an incident on lap 1 with the Landgraf-Mercedes #84 (Bird/Seppänen; 16th).
The second race starts again on Sunday at 1 p.m., qualifying is at 9 a.m.