SPIELBERG, Austria — In the battle for the ADAC GT Masters title, table leaders Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen have taken an important step at the Red Bull Ring.
The two Mercedes-AMG drivers from Landgraf Motorsport showed strong nerves on Sunday and won the tenth championship race.
The event was broadcast live by SPEED SPORT 1.
“I am happy that we were able to win the tough duel with Ferrari and I am confident that we will defend the title,” said last year’s champion Seppänen.
The 16-year-old Kalender also remained aggressive after his fourth win of the season.
“I want the title and will give everything for it,” Kalender said. “The good work of the team and the past results give us the calmness we need for that.”
Jean-Luc D’Auria and Alain Valente in the Ferrari 296 GT3 from Emil Frey Racing came in second. The top three were completed by Leon Köhler (Erlenbach am Main) and Maxime Oosten from FK Performance in their BMW M4 GT3, who are the most persistent pursuers of the top duo in the overall standings.
At the start on the 4.318-kilometer roller coaster in Styria, pole-setter Seppänen defended the lead. Valente and Oosten in second and third place, however, remained within striking distance. During the mandatory pit stop, Kalender took over the wheel of the leading Mercedes-AMG, which also held the lead after the change.
Behind him, Hubert Haupt lined up in another Mercedes-AMG GT3 from the Haupt Racing Team, ahead of D’Auria and Köhler, who, however, overtook Haupt in the following laps. Around seven minutes before the end of the time limit, the race was interrupted with a red flag and not restarted. When braking for the hairpin, the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Johannes Kapfinger collided with Haupt’s car, causing the Mercedes-AMG to crash into the wall. Haupt was uninjured in the accident.
Second-placed Valente drew a positive conclusion.
“We are happy with the outcome, but of course we would have liked to have overtaken Tom and Elias,” Valente said. “The potential is definitely there. We want to convert it into a win in Hockenheim.” Third place was another podium finish for Oosten and Köhler, but not what they had imagined.
“Third place was the maximum today,” said Oosten. “We got everything out of it, unfortunately that was all we could do. We have to go full throttle in Hockenheim to maintain our chance of winning the title.”
David Schumacher and Salman Owega in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 came in fourth place. Since the vehicle order was counted one lap before the accident, Haupt and Dennis Fetzer came in fifth and thus won the ProAm classification. The Kapfinger twins Johannes and Michael took sixth place ahead of the next twins, Juliano and Sandro Holzem in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 from Land Motorsport.
Mike David Ortmann and Denis Bulatov saw the checkered flag in eighth place in their Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from Walkenhorst Motorsport. The Chilean Benjamin Hites and Pierre Kaffer in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 came in ninth. Saturday’s winners Jannes Fittje and Finn Wiebelhaus drove their Mercedes-AMG GT3 to 10th place.
In the battle for the championship, Kalender and Seppänen are in the lead with 203 points. The pursuers Oosten and Köhler are still in the title race, 29 points behind. The best driver in the “Road to DTM” ranking in Spielberg was Seppänen, who is still ahead in the junior class. The grand finale of the ADAC GT Masters will take place at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg from October 18 to 20. This is where the decision will be made as to who will secure the title in the traditional series this year.