De Phillippi claims first pole position of 2016 ADAC GT Masters

• Connor De Phillippi sets fastest time in qualifying for Race 1 of the season opener
• Defending champion Sebastian Asch completes front row at Oschersleben
• Coverage on SPORT1 from 1pm local time

Oschersleben: After all the tests and a day of free practice, the first shots in anger have been fired in the 2016 ADAC GT Masters 2016, with Connor De Phillippi (23, USA) setting the fastest time in the first quali of the season. The series newcomer thus secured pole position for his Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8 in the first of two races at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (to be shown live on SPORT1 today). Defending champion Sebastian Asch (29, DEU, AMG - Team Zakspeed) also put in a strong performance to place his Mercedes-AMG GT on the front row with the second-fastest lap.

“A great start to the season,” said De Phillippi, who will be sharing the R8 with Christopher Mies (26, DEU) this season. “We have made further improvements to the car between free practice and qualifying. It was excellent. We knew that we were contenders for the pole position. I hope that we all get through the tight first corner here at Oschersleben in one piece. I will be trying to hand the car over to my team-mate with it still in the lead, then surely the win should be possible.”

At the beginning of the twenty-minute race against the clock, the Bentley Team ABT with two of their Continentals went straight to the top of the timesheets. The leading time of 1.27.282 minutes for Christer Jöns (28, DEU) stood until an opponent skidded off track and the session was briefly interrupted. After the resumption of action, the Audi teams began to dominate. Connor De Phillippi, who together with team-mate Christopher Mies had already made a big impression in yesterday’s free practice session, managed to post the fastest time one minute before the end of qualifying and set a new qualifying record for the ADAC GT Masters at Oschersleben in the process.

Sebastian Asch partnering Luca Ludwig (27, DEU) also made a good start to the season, qualifying just over two tenths of a second behind the pole setter. The two reigning champions will be challenging De Phillippi and Mies from the front row as they begin their title defence.

A further three tenths adrift and third fastest was Markus Winkelhock (35, DEU, Phoenix Racing), who shares a R8 with Markus Pommer (25, DEU). Alongside on Row 2 are the Audi duo of Fabian Hamprecht (20, DEU) and Guy Smith (41 GB, both Bentley Team ABT) in one of the two Bentley Continentals. Fifth place goes to Patrick Kujala (19, FIN) and Miloš Pavlović (33, SRB, both Bonaldi Motorsport) in the best of the Lamborghini Huracáns, while Peter Hoevenaars (20, NL) and Marc Basseng (37, DEU, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) in another Audi start alongside from sixth.

Positions seven to ten are occupied by Patrick Assenheimer (23, DEU) and Dominik Schwager (39, DEU, both Callaway Competition) in the new Corvette C7, the Bentley duo of Christer Jöns (28, DEU) and Daniel Abt (23, DEU), Jesse Krohn (25 FIN) and DTM driver Martin Tomczyk (34, DEU, both Schubert Motorsport) in a new BMW M6, and Robert Renauer (31, DEU) and Martin Ragginger (27, A, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) in a Porsche 911.

Fans wishing to experience the ADAC GT Masters live at the racetrack can purchase tickets for all fixtures for the price of 20 euros, which includes access to the paddock, from www.adac.de/motorsport.