Porsche duo Renauer and Ragginger win Race 1 at Motorsport Festival Lausitzring

• Robert Renauer and Martin Ragginger claim superb win from pole position
• Second place for Lamborghini pairing of Rolf Ineichen and Christian Engelhart
• Maiden victory for Patrick Assenheimer in the Junior classification

Klettwitz: Robert Renauer (31, DEU) and Martin Ragginger (28, A, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) have emerged victorious from the first of two ADAC GT Masters races at the Lausitzring Motorsport Festival. The Porsche 911 duo eventually claimed the win by a narrow 0.3-second margin after a tense final few laps. "I'm very happy about this victory," said a jubilant Martin Ragginger. "My thanks to the whole team. The pit stop worked great, and Robert put in a terrific first stint." Sharing the podium were runners-up Rolf Ineichen (38, CH) and Christian Engelhart (29, DEU, both GRT Grasser Racing Team) in a Lamborghini Huracán and third-placed Patrick Assenheimer (24, DEU) partnered by Dominik Schwager (39, DEU, both Callaway Competition) in a Corvette C7.

Renauer launches into lead from pole position

The complete field of 34 super sports cars managed to get round the first corner of the Lausitzring without problems. There were no changes among the first five after the start: Porsche driver Robert Renauer led from Patrick Assenheimer in a Corvette C7 and Jesse Krohn (25, FIN, Schubert Motorsport) in the BMW M6. During the first half of the race, Renauer succeeded in pulling out a gap of almost five seconds on the closest pursuer Assenheimer, while Ineichen took third place from BMW man Krohn.

Following the ten-minute pit stop window, Ragginger now at the wheel of the Porsche extended the lead to more than nine seconds. Meanwhile, the pursuing Corvette and Lamborghini were swapping places, as Engelhart came out of the pits ahead Schwager thanks to a faster changeover. There were then two safety car deployments triggered first by a collision between Mercedes man Luca Ludwig (27, DEU, AMG team Zakspeed) and Audi driver Rahel Frey (30, CH, YACO Racing), and by a second separate incident between Daniel Abt's (23, DEU, Bentley Team ABT) Bentley and Markus Winkelhock's (35, DEU, Phoenix Racing) Audi. Ragginger kept cool for both restarts to bring the Porsche over the line for its first victory of the season.

Second place went to Engelhart and Ineichen, an gentleman driver who thereby also won Saturday's Trophy classification. Third-placed Assenheimer and Schwager made their first podium appearance of the campaign, and Assenheimer also won the Junior class for drivers under 25 years. Fourth were Jules Gounon (21, F) and Daniel Keilwitz (26, DEU, both Callaway Competition) in another Corvette C7 ahead of Luca Stolz (20, DEU) and Mirko Bortolotti (26, ITA) in a GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini.

Positions six to eight were shared out among three Audis which had made a late surge through the field. During the course of the one-hour race, Connor De Phillippi (23, USA) and Christopher Mies (27, DEU, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport), Christiaan Frankenhout (34, NL) and Christopher Haase (28, DEU, both Car Collection Motorsport) and Daniel Dobitsch (31, A) partnered by Edward Sandström (37, S, both kfzteile24 APR Motorsport) all gained at least ten positions compared to where they started on the grid.

The remaining Top Ten spots went to Patrick Kujala (20, FIN) and Milos Pavlovic (33, SRB) driving a Bonaldi Motorsport Lamborghini and to Nikolaj Rogivue (19, CH) and Nicolai Sylvest (18, DK, both AMG team Zakspeed) in the best-placed of the Mercedes-AMG GT3s.

Comments from the winners

Robert Renauer (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911):
"We work on the principle of 'If not now, then when?'. So we used new tyres at the start. Because I managed to stay ahead of my opponents, I was able to put in some fast laps. Meanwhile, the Corvette and BMW behind me were engaged in a private battle, which certainly worked to my advantage. The two safety car deployments in the second half of the race were unfavourable for us, but I had great confidence in Martin (Ragginger) that he wouldn't take any risks and would bring the car home safely."

Martin Ragginger (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911):"Towards the end, it got tight again with the two safety car periods; I would obviously have preferred a bigger lead. I'm very happy about this victory. My thanks to the whole team. The pit stop worked great, and Robert put in a terrific first stint. Thanks to Porsche for a magnificent car, and thanks also to the Lausitzring where we always seem to do well."

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.