ADAC GT Masters and DTM: Reunion at Motorsport Festival Lausitzring

• Not long now until Motorsport Festival Lausitzring (3rd - 5th June)
• A look at the drivers who have competed in both the ADAC GT Masters and the DTM

Munich: The major highlight of the 2016 ADAC GT Masters season is now less than two weeks away (3rd - 5th June). At the Lausitzring, the Super Sports Car League will be staging the Motorsport Festival weekend with the DTM for the first time since 2008. For many of those involved, it will rekindle memories of when they were contestants in the other series.

Among the more than 60 ADAC GT Masters entrants and the current crop of 24 DTM starters, there are four drivers who have completed at least one full season in both competitions. Markus Winkelhock (35, DEU, Phoenix Racing) and Rahel Frey (30, CH, YACO Racing) started out in the DTM but are now committed to the ADAC GT Masters. Switzerland's Rahel Frey competed in a total of 20 DTM races as an Audi works driver between 2011 and 2012. In 2013, she switched to the ADAC GT Masters. This year, she is sharing the cockpit of a new Audi R8 with Philip Geipel.

"There is really no comparison, either between the two series or the two racing cars," says Frey. "They are different concepts. In the DTM, you're driving on your own. From an engineering aspect, the cars are obviously on a different level from the production-based GT3 cars. The pressure to perform in the DTM is higher because you're driving for a manufacturer. In the ADAC GT Masters, you share the driving with a team-mate. The races themselves are bit more brutal, and on the weekends you have a lot of contact with the fans."

Maxime Martin (30, B) from Belgium and Maximilian Götz (30, DEU) have taken the opposite direction in their careers, starting out in the ADAC GT Masters and subsequently graduating to the DTM. Götz has very fond memories of the Super Sports Car League, having won the 2012 drivers' championship together with partner Sebastian Asch (29, DEU, AMG Team Zakspeed) in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.

"I still keep close tabs on the ADAC GT Masters," says Götz. "In the run-up to this event, a lot of my old acquaintances have rung to ask if they can visit me in my DTM garage. In return, I'll be calling in on Sebastian Asch with whom I'm still in close contact. For the fans at the Lausitzring, of course, the combined staging of these two important series is a real treat. Four top races over two days with different racing formats - what more could you want?"

Bentley Team ABT is a very special case: Christian Abt spent eight years driving for three different Audi teams in the DTM before switching to the ADAC GT Masters in 2009 and winning the title at the first attempt for ABT Sportsline. The following year, he took the job of team principal at ABT and from his new perch on the pit wall won three team championships. Now, as team boss of Bentley Team ABT, he will be meeting up with his brother at the Lausitzring - Hans-Jürgen Abt is the brain behind the DTM Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline outfit.

"Set against the hi-tech and faster lap times in the DTM, you have the greater frequency of overtaking in the ADAC GT Masters plus the tremendous glamour of the supercars", says Abt. "Is there anyone who doesn't dream of having a Bentley, a Porsche or a Lamborghini in the garage? The fact that both series offer superb action-packed motorsport has been demonstrated by the first races of the new season. For me as a motorsport fan, the question of whether the ADAC GT Masters or the DTM is the superior spectacle doesn't arise. I want to see both. And that's why it is so good that we are able to offer fans at the Lausitzring this double bill."

Also double booked at the Lausitzring this weekend are Team Phoenix Racing. Ernst Moser's outfit have an Audi R8 in the ADAC GT Masters and two Audi RS 5 DTMs in the DTM. "In terms of the manpower and the material that we are bringing with us, this is certainly one of the most ambitious operations that we have so far undertaken," says Moser. "However, these are two completely separate crews who will work independently from each other and work well. Obviously, we made all the hotel bookings for our staff at the same time and we'll also be departing from base together: five Phoenix trucks in a single convoy, three for the DTM and two for the ADAC GT Masters. In my role as team principal, I'll be taking charge of the DTM arrangements while our team manager Bernhard Demmer will be organising our GT drivers, crew and cars."

Bruno Spengler (32, CDN) and Martin Tomczyk (34, DEU) are two of the current DTM line-up to have made guest appearances in the ADAC GT Masters - on each occasion finishing in the points. Spengler stepped in for Schubert Motorsport in the 2015 season finale at Hockenheim. Partnering Dominik Baumann (23, A), the Canadian secured a fourth and a third place, thereby helping Schubert to win the team title. In the 2016 season opener, Tomczyk also came in for Schubert, substituting for Louis Delétraz (19, CH). Partnering Jesse Krohn (25, FIN) in the BMW M6 GT3, he finished fifth and eighth to notch up the first ADAC GT Masters points for the new BMW model.

All the races of the 2016 ADAC GT Masters are broadcast live and in full length on free-to-air channel SPORT1. 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.