Paddock radar from the ADAC GT Masters at the Sachsenring

• Sachsenring hosts ADAC GT Masters for tenth time
• Tremendous enthusiasm for YACO Racing from Saxony
• Local driver Marvin Kirchhöfer posts demo laps in GP2 car

Loyal partner: The ADAC GT Masters first saw the light of day in 2007, so 2016 now marks the tenth anniversary of the Super Sports Car League. The Sachsenring has been on the calendar ever since that first year. The Super Sports Car League and the spectacular roller-coaster of a circuit can look back on a decade of top-class GT3 racing together. The unexpected success of Kristian Poulsen and Christoffer Nygaard in 2012 is just one simply unforgettable highlight, as it was both the maiden win for Aston Martin and one of the few overall wins for an amateur driver in the ADAC GT Masters, notched up by Poulsen.

Home race: Audi team, YACO Racing, are based just 65 kilometres away from the Sachsenring, so the team from Plauen had the shortest journey of all the teams to this second ADAC GT Masters race weekend. Taking his seat in the cockpit, Philip Geipel, also from Plauen. “The response here at the Sachsenring is incredible,” said the 29-year-old. “Fans stood six deep at our table during the pit walk, wanting autographs, and I’m often asked by fans if they can take my picture as I walk through the paddock. That’s a great feeling.” To bring good luck, YACO Racing brought the Audi R8 with them to the Sachsenring, in which Geipel and team-mate Rahel Frey won the 2015 season finale at Hockenheim.

Old acquaintance: Marvin Kirchhöfer, 2012 Formel ADAC champion and ex-ADAC Sports Foundation protégé posted a couple of demo laps in his GP2 racing car and busily signed autographs afterwards. “It feels really great to return to the Sachsenring,” said the 22-year-old. “The last time I was here was three years ago with the ATS Formula 3 Cup. The atmosphere has been great, the weather excellent. I’ve seen many familiar faces from the past and the highlight of the weekend for me was, of course, the demo drive in the GP2 car.”

More live action in Internet: Live coverage for fans unable to follow proceedings in the ADAC GT Masters events at the Sachsenring track or on television has been extended further. For the first time, and in addition to the two races, the two qualifying sessions were also shown as live streams on adac.de/motorsport and sport1.de. This coverage is set to continue for all the other fixtures of the 2016 season.

Three cheers all round!: There were three reasons to celebrate today in the ADAC GT Masters paddock: 1st May is Labour Day and also the birthdays of RWT Racing’s Florian Scholze, who is 43 today, and Steve Feige from MRS GT-Racing, who is 37.

A touch of winter: There was a VIP visitor on the podium at the end of the second race contested by ADAC GT Masters series partner, the ADAC TCR Germany, when Nico Walther presented the trophy for third place. The world-class bob driver from Freital in Saxony is both one of Germany’s most successful bob drivers and an avid motor racing fan: “As a child, I used to love watching Formula 1 and the DTM. The ADAC GT Masters is also very interesting, since the cars are familiar from the street.”

FIA guest: Frédéric Bertrand, FIA Director of Racing Activities, visited the ADAC GT Masters and series partner, ADAC Formula 4, to see what the races in the junior series are like. He also presented the winner’s trophy for third place on Saturday after the first of the three races.