ADAC GT Masters: Wins for Mercedes and Audi at Nürburgring
BWT Mücke Motorsport and Aust Motorsport are the winning teams in the fifth round of the 2017 ADAC GT Masters season this weekend at the Nürburgring. Sebastian Asch and Lucas Auer won the first race in the #26 Mercedes-AMG GT3 while the race 2 winners were Kelvin van de Linde and Markus Pommer in the #3 Audi R8 LMS.
BWT Mücke Motorsport’s Mercedes at Nurburgring
Maiden win for BWT Mücke Motorsport
On Saturday, Sebastian Asch and his partner Lucas Auer secured the first ever series win for BWT Mücke Motorsport, the Berlin-based team in their debut year in the ADAC GT Masters. It’s tenth win in a career and the first win of the season for two-time ADAC GT champion Asch and the first ever win for DTM star Auer in his only second ADAC GT weekend.
Their #26 Mercedes crossed the finish line 7.257 seconds ahead of #17 KÜS Team75 Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3 R, driven by Mathieu Jaminet and Michael Ammermüller. Pole-sitters Luca Stolz and Luca Ludwig finished in the third place in the #21 Team Zakspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Championship leader Jules Gounon and his new co-driver Albert Costa crossed the finish line in fifth place in the #77 Callaway Competition Corvette C7, behind the#4 Aust Motorsport Audi of Dennis Marschall and Patric Niederhauser. Fifth place enabled Gounon to extend his lead in the standings.
Aust Motorsport’s #3 Audi won the Race 2 at Nurburgring
First win for Pommer/van der Linde
The Race 2 was interrupted by the Safety Car on the opening lap following a Turn 1-accident in which six cars were involved. Five of them didn’t restart the race. Philipp Eng defended his best starting position in the #42 Schnitzer BMW M6 GT3 both at the start and restart. The best starter was Sven Muller in the #99 Herberth Motorsport Porsche, who progressed from P6 to P2 on the opening lap.
After all the pitstops and mid-race driver changes, the #3 Aust Motorsport Audi of Markus Pommer took the lead ahead of Nick Catsburg in the #42 Schnitzer BMW. Two drivers had a drag race at the exit from the pit lane in which Catsburg took the P1 but race officials decided that he must return a position to Pommer. Jeffrey Schmidt in the #2 Land Motorsport Audi come out from the pits in the third place, taking a car from Christopher Haase.
The second Safety Car intervention came on Lap 27 following Filip Salaquarda’s off-track excursion in the #24 Audi. He was in the fourth place when accident happened. The race restarted with ten minutes on a clock. Until the end of the race, Markus Pommer increased a gap to almost five seconds ahead of Nick Catsburg, who managed to defend P2 from the attacks of Jeffrey Schmidt.
GRT Grasser Racing Team’s #63 Lamborghini Huracan finished in the fourth place, beating Aust Motorsport’s #4 Audi and Land Motorsport’s #1 Audi. HTP Motorsport’s #48 Mercedes was the best ‘silver star’ in the seventh place, ahead of Jules Gounon and Albert Costa in the #77 Callaway Competition Corvette.
Check the full results of ADAC GT races at Nürburgring
Jules Gounon is still the championship leader after ten races. He collects 127 points, 38 more than Philipp Eng. Markus Pommer and Kelvin van der Linde are sharing the third place, eight points behind Eng.
The next round of the ADAC GT Masters is scheduled for September 15-17 at Sachsenring.
