Close duels on the track, tactical games and breathtaking overtaking manoeuvres: Saturday’s race of the ADAC GT4 Germany at the Sachsenring offered fantastic motorsport from the first to the last minute.
In the end, Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann (Prosport Racing) triumphed in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. With their third win of the season, the two former ADAC GT Masters drivers have also taken the lead in the ADAC GT4 Germany standings.
The two Mercedes-AMG GT4 duos Julian Hanses and William Tregurtha (CV Performance Group) as well as Jan Philipp Springob and Robin Falkenbach (Team ZVO) completed the podium. “After the tension dropped, I was really emotional. I’m really happy about the victory at the Sachsenring. The team just gave us a perfect car,” Ortmann cheered on the podium.
The 22-year-old Ortmann had already started the race from pole position and immediately converted his good starting position into the lead. Julian Hanses, who started third, made up one position in the first corner and snatched second place from fellow Audi driver Jan Philipp Springob.
Behind them, Marcel Lenerz (Piro Sports) secured fourth place in the Toyota GR Supra GT4. In the first few minutes of the race, Ortmann pulled away a little from the front with strong lap times. But then his forward drive was initially slowed down for a short time.
Aleks Stefanov (Overdrive Racing) came off the track slightly in a Porsche and then touched the guard rail, causing him to retire. The situation resulted in a seven-minute safety car phase. After the restart, Ortmann maintained the lead in front of Hanses and Springob, who fought fiercely for the silver position.
During the pit stop window, race control had to neutralize the track again with a full-course yellow because Porsche driver Joachim Bölting (Overdrive Racing) also hit the barriers. The yellow phase during the pit stop phase caused a lot of movement in the field, most of the vehicles completed the driver change.
Numerous duels in midfield
Second-placed Hanses, however, waited another lap to hand over his Mercedes-AMG to team-mate Tregurtha. The tactic didn’t pay off. Tregurtha dropped to third behind Springob’s teammate Robin Falkenbach. The leading Aston Martin, in which Hugo Sasse had taken a seat, remained unimpressed.
While the first positions for the second part of the race seemed occupied, numerous duels raged on the other places. Cedric Piro, who took over the fourth-placed Toyota from Lenerz, had to defend against Romain Leroux’s (Dörr Motorsport) Aston Martin. Around nine minutes before the end, Leroux finally prevailed and shared fourth place with Ben Dörr.
But things got down to business again on the podium. Tregurtha was catching up to Falkenbach and overtook him on the penultimate lap, which brought him and teammate Hanses second place. Hugo Sasse, meanwhile, drove to victory at the front. For the 18-year-old, this also meant a class victory in the junior classification.
Fifth place went to Nicolaj Möller Madsen and Finn Zulauf (W&S Motorsport) in the Porsche ahead of Aston Martin drivers Indy Dontje and Phil Dörr (Dörr Motorsport). In the final phase, Piro in the Toyota fell back to seventh position.
The reigning champions Michael Schrey and Gabriele Piana (Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport) in the BMW M4 GT4 finished eighth ahead of Pavel Lefterov and Stefan Bostandjiev (Overdrive Racing) in the Porsche and their brand colleagues Max Kronberg and Hendrik Still (W&S Motorsport). Victory in the Trophy classification went to the Porsche duo Tom Kieffer and Christian Kosch (Allied Racing).
Quotes about the Saturday race of the ADAC GT4 Germany
Mike David Ortmann – Winner for Prosport Racing:
“We won last year at the Sachsenring and now we’re repeating this triumph. It’s a great team effort. There was a lot of tire wear on the track today. So it was important to stick to the ideal line. I did that well. I could do that for Hugo Left the car in perfect condition. He then did a great job and drove the race home.”
Hugo Sasse – Winner for Prosport Racing:
“Of course, the mood here is great now. I managed my stint really well. We lost a little time during the full-couse yellow. But after that I only had to manage the tyres. I’m really looking forward to the race on Sunday, which we tackle as championship leaders. Of course, the next win is the goal. We’re currently just focusing on the individual races and aren’t looking towards the title fight just yet.”
Julian Hanses – Second place for CV Performance Group:
“I’m very happy with the result. I don’t think our speed would have given up today. We were the best Mercedes-AMG – we’re happy about that too. At the start I had more grip on the inside of the corner and was able to secure second position In the full-course yellow it got exciting again, because everyone else drove straight into the pits – but we were a bit later. But Will had regained second place afterwards. We want to win tomorrow.”
William Tregurtha – Second place for CV Performance Group:
“It’s just great. I came back into the ADAC GT4 Germany and was able to finish second. So I had a lot of fun. Our car felt really good today and Julian had a perfect first stint. At the end of the race I was initially still in third place, but was able to steadily reduce the gap. On the penultimate lap, I finally passed and was able to confirm a great result with second place.”