HOCKENHEIM, Germany — Salman Owega (20, Cologne) and Finn Wiebelhaus (19, Obertshausen, both Haupt Racing Team) won the final ADAC GT Masters race of the season at Hockenheim.
The duo in their Ford Mustang GT3 finished 1.770 seconds ahead of the new runners-up, Tim Zimmermann (29, Langenargen) and Leyton Fourie (20, RSA, both FK Performance Motorsport), in their BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
“I’m so happy we were able to win this race. We started the season strongly and finished it that way too,” Wiebelhaus rejoiced. “I knew I would be fast in the race here. After winning the championship, I was finally able to drive completely freely and give it my all. It was just so much fun.”
Teammate Owega added: “We couldn’t have finished the season better. I was expecting Finn to move up a bit, but I never would have thought it would turn out this well.” The previous day’s winners, Nico Hantke (21, Hürth) and Denis Bulatov (26, Scherer Sport PHX), in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2, completed the podium.
At the start of the final race, polesitter Alexander Fach (23/CHE/Fach Auto Tech) initially remained in the lead, but Fourie in the BMW steadily worked his way up to the leading Porsche. The South African watched Fach closely and identified the Porsche’s weak points, finally launching an attack in the hairpin on lap eight.
After a corner-long duel, he took the lead and from then on tried to save the tires for his teammate Zimmermann. Behind them, Hantke and Owega engaged in a brief duel at the beginning, but ultimately held third and fourth places for their stint.
After the driver change and the shorter pit stop time due to the regulations, Schwarzer (36/DEU) in the Porsche returned to the track with a lead of almost ten seconds over Zimmermann in the BMW.
While the latter steadily closed in on the leader, the new champion Wiebelhaus came in from fourth place with strong lap times. Within a very short space of time, he worked his way past Bulatov in his Ford Mustang GT3, then past Zimmermann and finally past Schwarzer into the lead.
“Salman left me some good tires, and then it was just full throttle for me. I drove one qualifying lap after another,” Wiebelhaus revealed.
Zimmermann had no answer to this attack and instead focused on passing Schwarzer and safely securing the points for second place.
“To be honest, I didn’t really put any more pressure on him at the end because I didn’t want to risk anything,” said Zimmermann. “Now we’re second in the championship. We should be happy, even if not everything went smoothly. But that’s a reflection of our season. It’s been a rollercoaster ride, and to be on the podium again and be runner-up is a nice way to end it.”
Zimmermann’s driving style opened the door again for Bulatov, who initially overtook Schwarzer in the Audi, steadily closed in, and ultimately crossed the finish line just 0.539 seconds behind the FK Performance Motorsport BMW. “Qualifying was very important today, and Nico drove a good first half of the race, staying close to the front in third place,” Bulatov described. “Our pace wasn’t so good at times towards the middle of the race, but at the end I was able to really push again with an empty tank. It was really close; unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for second place, but this podium after yesterday’s win is the perfect end to the season.”
Fach and Schwarzer crossed the finish line in fourth place, securing their seventh win of the Pro-AM Cup season. Twins Sandro and Juliano Holzem (21, Polch, both Schubert Motorsport) rounded out the top five in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
