PLAINFIELD, Germany — Ben Dörr (20, DEU) and Guilherme de Oliveira (20, POR) celebrated victory in Saturday’s ADAC GT Masters race – and made their mark in the history books.
Dörr Motorsport achieved the first McLaren victory in ADAC GT Masters history in their guest appearance, as well as the first for the DTM team in the ADAC GT3 junior league.
“It’s always nice to be first in something. I send a huge thank you to McLaren and our team; the car was truly superb today. Apart from our penalty, we had a flawless race, were able to push both of us through, and mastered the overtaking maneuvers well and confidently,” said a delighted DTM driver Ben Dörr.
Teammate de Oliveira added: “We made a good start from fourth place to move straight into second place. Unfortunately, a penalty set us back, but Ben had a good middle stint and our strategy was spot on. A wonderful day.”
Jannes Fittje (26, GER) and Moritz Wiskirchen (22, GER/both SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm) in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and twin brothers Sandro and Juliano Holzem (21, GER/Schubert Motorsport) in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo completed the podium.
In bright sunshine and 19 degrees Celsius, the field headed into the inaugural ADAC GT Masters race at the Salzburgring. Right at the start, de Oliveira, driving a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, positioned himself behind polesitter Jonathan Cecotto (26/VEN/Haupt Racing Team) and held this position until the first driver change. A penalty following an incident in the pits dropped Dörr to 14th place, but he worked his way back up to sixth place by the final stop.
De Oliveira finally pulled off the decisive maneuver immediately after the final stop, taking the lead and holding it until the checkered flag.
A safety car period after the first pit stop window had neutralized all gaps. This benefited Wiskirchen/Fittje, who had started the race from seventh on the grid. “It was pretty certain that a safety car would come out on this track, so choosing a long first pit stop was the logical strategy for us,” explained Wiskirchen.
“We had a good start and Jannes drove a superb stint. Luckily, I was able to gain a position after the restart, and so we achieved maximum results.”
The same applied to Juliano Holzem, who was able to gain a position in his BMW M4 GT3 after the final safety car period, securing a podium finish for himself and his twin brother Sandro.
“The race was chaotic, but everything worked out for us in the end,” said Juliano Holzem, who started from sixth on the grid. “I noticed from the very first moment that the race pace was great. My overtaking maneuver in turn eleven was tricky, but luckily everything went well and we had a perfect race.”
Fourth place went to the local heroes from Razoon – more than Racing. Simon Birch (18, DNK) had moved up to second place in the Porsche 911 GT3 R during his stint, but teammate Leo Pichler (23, AT) had to let the McLaren and then Wiskirchen and Holzem pass him in the final laps of the race. The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 of Finn Zulauf (20, Königsstein) and Simon Connor Primm (20, Großschirma/Paul Motorsport) couldn’t get past and had to settle for fifth place. Tim Zimmermann (28, Langenargen) and Leyton Fourie (19, RSA/both FK Performance Motorsport) finished sixth in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
Behind them were Salman Owega (20, Cologne) and Finn Wiebelhaus (19, Obertshausen, both Haupt Racing Team) in the Ford Mustang GT3. They had been dropped back due to a penalty for spinning their teammates Dennis Fetzer (24, Gießen) and Jonathan Cecotto (26, VEN) after contact.
The race’s polesitters ultimately finished eighth. Ninth place and their third win of the season in the Pro-AM Cup went to the Lamborghini drivers Jonas Karklys (36, LIT) and Emil Gjerdrum (18, NOR, both Liqui Moly Team Engstler by GRT).
BMW drivers Eduardo Coseteng (21, PHL) and Julian Hanses (28, Hilden, both FK Performance Motorsport), who had temporarily led due to their strategy, completed the top 10.
