2017 ADAC GT Masters season preview
Motorsport Arena Oschersleben will host the opening round of the 2017 ADAC GT Masters season where we’ll see 28 cars of seven manufacturers and 17 teams.
Race calendar remained almost the same
There won’t be new cars on the grid in the 11th edition of the series and Audi will be the best-represented manufacturer with 10 R8 LMS cars on the grid. On the other side, we’ll have an opportunity to see many new but not unknown faces. Four new teams are making their debut in the ADAC GT Masters – Audi Sport racing academy, BMW Team Schnitzer, BWT Mucke Motorsport, and Twin Busch Motorsport. The number of races is same like in the previous year, as well as the venues but the schedule is slightly changed.
2017 ADAC GT Masters calendar
| Round | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Race 1 and Race 2 | 29/30 April | Motorsport Arena Oschersleben |
| Race 3 and Race 4 | 20/21 May | Lausitzring |
| Race 5 and Race 6 | 10/11 June | Red Bull Ring |
| Race 7 and Race 8 | 22/23 July | Circuit Park Zandvoort |
| Race 9 and Race 10 | 5/6 August | Nurburgring |
| Race 11 and Race 12 | 16/17 September | Sachsenring |
| Race 13 and Race 14 | 23/24 September | Hockenheimring |
No fewer than eight former ADAC GT Masters champions are challenging for the title this time. Except the reigning champions, Sebastian Asch, Christopher Haase, Maximilian Gotz, Daniel Keilwitz, Kelvin van der Linde, and Luca Ludwig will try to reach the top spot on the podium once again.
A lot of newcomers
A total of 19 drivers will make their debut in ADAC GT Masters this weekend. Some of them, like Stefan Mucke, Filip Salaquarda or Patrick Huisman, are already experienced racers. On the other side, there will be a lot of talented youngsters like Sven Muller, Mathieu Jaminet, Marvin Kirchhofer, and many other who will try to establish themselves in the highly competitive championship.
Detail from ADAC GT Masters pre-season test at Oschersleben
The reigning champions will have several challengers
Probably all eyes this weekend will be on title defenders Connor De Phillippi and Christopher Mies. Drivers of Land Motorsport’s Audi R8 LMS had a very good season and although they won only once, their form was at very high level. The American and the German driver had a total of seven podium finishes in 2016 and triumphed after a big battle with Team75 Bernhard’s Porsche and Callaway Competition’s Corvette.
Christopher Mies and Connor De Phillippi – 2016 ADAC GT Masters champions
Apart from title defenders and Team75 Bernhard’s and Callaway Competition’s cars, the attention should be paid at Herberth Motorsport’s Porsche #99, as well as at Mercedes-AMG GT3s of Team Zakspeed and HTP Motorsport. Not to forget GRT Grasser Racing Team which will field two Lamborghini Huracans with some experienced drivers who are capable of making a surprise or two.
| Car # | Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montaplast by Land-Motorsport | Connor De Phillippi | Christopher Mies | Audi R8 LMS |
| 2 | Montaplast by Land-Motorsport | Jeffrey Schmidt | Christopher Haase | Audi R8 LMS |
| 3 | Aust Motorsport | Markus Pommer | Kelvin van der Linde | Audi R8 LMS |
| 4 | Aust Motorsport | Dennis Marschall | Patric Niederhauser | Audi R8 LMS |
| 6 | HB Racing WDS Bau | Florian Spengler | Christopher Zanella | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| 7 | HB Racing WDS Bau | Norbert Siedler | Marco Mapelli | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| 8 | Audi Sport racing academy | Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky | Ricardo Feller | Audi R8 LMS |
| 9 | Audi Sport racing academy | Elia Erhart | Christopher Hoher | Audi R8 LMS |
| 13 | RWT Racing | Sven Barth | Maximilian Hacklander | Corvette C7 GT3-R |
| 17 | KUS TEAM75 Bernhard | Mathieu Jaminet | Michael Ammermuller | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| 18 | KUS TEAM75 Bernhard | Adrien de Leener | Christopher Friedrich | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| 19 | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Ezeqiuel Perez Companc | Mirko Bortolotti | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| 20 | Mercedes-AMG Team ZAKSPEED | Nikolaj Rogivue | Nicolai Sylvest | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| 21 | Mercedes-AMG Team ZAKSPEED | Luca Stolz | Luca Ludwig | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| 22 | MRS GT-Racing | Remo Lips | Patrick Huisman | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 |
| 24 | BWT Mucke Motorsport | Filip Salaquarda | Markus Winkelhock | Audi R8 LMS |
| 25 | BWT Mucke Motorsport | MIke-David Ortmann | Frank Stippler | Audi R8 LMS |
| 26 | BWT Mucke Motorsport | Sebastian Asch | Stefan Mucke | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| 36 | Schutz Motorsport | Alex MacDowall | Klaus Bachler | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| 42 | BMW Team Schnitzer | Ricky Collard | Philipp Eng | BMW M6 GT3 |
| 44 | Twin Busch Motorsport | Marc Busch | Dennis Busch | Audi R8 LMS |
| 48 | Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport | Indy Dontje | Marvin Kirchhofer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| 50 | YACO Racing | Philip Geipel | Rahel Frey | Audi R8 LMS |
| 63 | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Rolf Ineichen | Christian Engelhart | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| 66 | ADAC NSA/Attempto Racing Team | Jonathan Judek | Emil Lindholm | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| 77 | Callaway Competition | Jules Gounon | Daniel Keilwitz | Corvette C7 GT3-R |
| 84 | Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport | Patrick Assenheimer | Maximilian Gotz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| 99 | Precote Herberth Motorsport | Robert Renauer | Sven Muller | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
Photo: adac-gt-masters.de
