Ludwig and Asch to mount ADAC GT Masters title defence with Zakspeed

• Last year’s team champions also intent on winning 2016 drivers’ title
• Niederzissen-based outfit to enter two new Mercedes-AMG GT3s
• Champions Luca Ludwig and Sebastian Asch as one of the driver pairings

Munich: Team Zakspeed have made clear their objective for the 2016 ADAC GT Masters campaign – the successful defence of the drivers’ title. To emphasise their intent, Zakspeed have doubled the size of their squad and entered two new Mercedes-AMG GT3s for the Super Sports Car League. The current champions – Luca Ludwig (27, GER) and Sebastian Asch (29, GER) – will be driving the car with the number one on its bodywork as they embark on Mission Title Defence. Zakspeed will be announcing the drivers of the second Mercedes-AMG in the context of the ADAC GT Masters Media Day at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben on 4th April.

The cards in the ADAC GT Masters deck will be reshuffled for the 2016 season. Zakspeed will be up against a starting line-up of strong contenders and several new super cars. Team boss Peter Zakowski looks back on the 2015 season: “We had some great races in the first half of the season, although we then had a bit of a slump in the second half and made some mistakes. I think that we definitely have the potential to be title contenders again this year. There are certainly some unknown factors, for example how well the new car will run and what the relative performance of our opponents will be. But I’m confident that we can be up amongst the front-runners right from the start.”

Ludwig is preparing himself for his tenth season in the ADAC GT Masters: “This year will certainly be very hard, because we estimate that the competition will be very strong. But we have made great progress over the winter. We have a new car and certainly have a lot to learn, but structurally and organisationally, we are much better placed than in 2015. I’m obviously hoping that we are able to make a push for the title again this year.”

Team-mate Sebastian Asch concurs: “I am really looking forward to this season. When you read through the list of names on the grid, that’s a tough challenge. A lot of the manufacturers are supplying their latest models, so at the moment I don’t think anyone knows for sure who the favourite is. Our objective is clearly to defend the title. After all, we also have the number 1 on our car, so we need to stand tall. This year, we have a new team setup, including a new engineer, so when we all go out on track together for the first time on the test days at Oschersleben, we’ll see how good our chances are.”

All ADAC GT Masters races will once again be broadcast live and in full during 2016 by SPORT1 on free-to-air TV. The 2016 ADAC GT Masters season opens on the weekend of April 15th-17th, 2016, in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Tickets are available in advance online at www.adac.de/motorsport from 20 euros upwards.