Kalender and Seppänen are crowned champions after third place

The title race in the ADAC GT Masters is over. Elias Seppänen (FIN) and Tom Kalender (Hamm/Sieg) from Landgraf Motorsport wrapped up overall victory in the Drivers’ Championship with third place in the penultimate race of the season at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. “It is absolutely mega to have won the title on the Saturday. It feels awesome,” said Kalender, who is the youngest champion in the history of the ADAC GT Masters at just 16 years, six months and 23 days. Seppänen repeated his success from last year in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 to become the first driver ever to successfully defend their title in the ADAC GT Masters. “I am very proud of our performance. We worked very hard this year for this moment. The title is the deserved reward.”

The race was won by David Schumacher (Salzburg) and Salman Owega (Cologne) from Haupt Racing Team, who celebrated their third victory of the season. Second place went to local favourite Marcel Marchewicz (Schwetzingen) and Jay Mo Härtling (Sprockhövel) in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Schnitzelalm Racing. Saturday’s race at the 4.574-kilometre circuit got underway in dry conditions and with an outside temperature of 17 degrees Celsius. Pole-sitter Marchewicz held the upper hand on the opening lap and refused to be knocked off his stride by what was happening in his rear-view mirror. Last year’s champion Owega started from third on the grid and immediately launched a determined manoeuvre to pass championship leader Kalender and climb into second place.

Shortly thereafter there was a collision between the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Max Reis (Ramstein/Haupt Racing Team) and Johannes Kapfinger (Passau/Team Joos by Twin Busch) in a Porsche 911 GT3 R, which resulted in a safety car phase. At the re-start, Marchewicz again left nobody in any doubt as to his intentions and successfully defended his lead against fellow Mercedes-AMG drivers Owega and Kalender. Schumacher took over from Owega at the obligatory driver changeover and soon overtook Härtling, who had replaced Marchewicz in the cockpit, to move to the front of the field. There was more drama to come on the final lap, as Schumacher struggled with a technical issue. Schumacher was able to defend his lead in a thrilling battle and crossed the finish line first in his Mercedes-AMG GT3.

“I was no longer able to accelerate at full throttle in the closing stages. That was a difficult situation for me, but I really wanted the win and tried everything to stay in front,” said Schumacher, describing the final duel. “I noticed that David had an issue. Unfortunately, the attack on him did not go to plan. I then had to go defensive, as Elias was closing in all the time. In the end we were runners-up, which is a super result for us,” said Härtling, summing up the situation. Fourth place went to Alexander Schwarzer (D) and Switzerland’s Alexander Fach in a Porsche 911 GT3 R, who also took victory in the ProAm class. The Holzem twins Juliano and Sandro (both Polch) ended the race in fifth place for Land Motorsport in their Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2. Sixth across the finish line were the FK Performance duo of Maxime Oosten (NL) and Leon Köhler (Erlenbach am Main) in a BMW M4 GT3.

The two BMW drivers once again showed their fighting spirit and gained six positions over the course of the race. Despite an impressive performance, the German/Dutch pairing was unable to mount a final big assault on the title. Jannes Fittje (Langenhain) and Finn Wiebelhaus (Obertshausen) from Haupt Racing Team produced an equally impressive fightback in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.

From last place, Wiebelhaus battled back brilliantly, gaining ten places to finish seventh in the end. In eighth place were Swiss drivers Jean-Luc D´Auria and Alain Valente in a Ferrari 296 GT3 run by Emil Frey Racing, ahead of Tim Zimmermann (Langenargen) and Benjamin Hites (Chile/Grasser Racing Team) in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. Rounding out the top ten were Denis Bulatov (Cologne) and Mike David Ortmann (Ahrensfelde) from Walkenhorst Motorsport in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3.