Porsche drivers Jaminet & Ammermüller win ADAC GT Masters season opener

• Mathieu Jaminet and Michael Ammermüller win on Saturday at Oschersleben
• Bachler & Macdowall in second place make it one-two for Porsche
• Newcomer Jeffrey Schmidt wins Junior class

Oschersleben: Mathieu Jaminet (22, F) and Michael Ammermüller (30, DEU) are the winners of the first ADAC GT Masters race of the season at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Driving for KÜS Team75 Bernhard, the two Porsche drivers took the win from fellow Porsche drivers, Klaus Bachler (25, A) and Alex Macdowall (26, GB, both Schütz Motorsport). Third place went to last year's overall winners Connor De Phillippi (23, USA) and Christopher Mies (27, DEU, both Montaplast by Land Motorsport) in the best-placed Audi R8. “First, pole position and now the win, this is really fantastic. A perfect start to the season,” said a very happy Jaminet, after taking his maiden win in the ADAC GT Masters in the race on Saturday.

Bachler wins battle at the start

Bachler took the lead from pole-sitter, Jaminet, at the start and remained in P1 until the mandatory pit stop. The Austrian stayed focussed despite two early safety car periods, in the first of which, the stricken Porsche 911 of Christopher Friedrich (22, Germany, KÜS Team75 Bernhard) was recovered and in the second, the Corvette C7 of Jules Gounon (22, F, Callaway Competition). Behind the leading pair, there was a hard-fought scrap for third place between the Audi R8 of Markus Pommer (27, DEU) & Kelvin van der Linde (20, ZA, both Aust Motorsport), Jeffrey Schmidt (23, CH) & Christopher Haase (29, Germany, both Montaplast by Land and Mies & De Phillippi.

Jaminet was the first of the leading pair of drivers to come in for the mandatory pit stop before handing over to his partner, Ammermüller – the strategy paid off. After Bachler pitted to be replaced by Alex Macdowall, Ammermüller took the lead which he did not relinquish. The order in the top two places did not change despite a late safety car period following a spin by Nissan driver, Patrick Huisman (50, NL, MRS GT-Racing) that caused the field to bunch up together. Ammermüller comfortably took the win at the finish line from Macdowall. The scrap between the three Audis for P3 and the remaining place on the podium remained exciting until the very end. P3 finally went to De Phillippi & Mies, who came home ahead of Pommer & van der Linde and Junior standings winner Schmidt and his partner, Haase.

Stefan Mücke (36, DEU) and Sebastian Asch (30, DEU, both BWT Mücke Motorsport) finished sixth and were the best-placed Mercedes AMG drivers. The Porsche pairing of Robert Renauer (32, DEU) and Sven Müller (25, DEU, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) took P7, followed by Luca Stolz (21, DEU) and Luca Ludwig (27, DEU, both Mercedes-AMG) Team ZAKSPEED) in eighth place in another Mercedes-AMG. Rolf Ineichen (38, CH) finished ninth along with Christian Engelhart (30, DEU, both GRT Grasser Racing Team) in the most successful Lamborghini Huracán and also won the Trophy classification for amateur drivers. Ricky Collard (20, GB) and Philipp Eng (27, A, both BMW Team Schnitzer) completed the Top Ten in the only BMW M6 in the field.

Comments from the winners

Mathieu Jaminet (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911): “My start was not the best, unfortunately. It's the first flying start I've ever done. It looks like I've still got things to learn. I lost a place and then concentrated on keeping the gap to Klaus Bachler fairly constant. It was important to nurse the tyres and hand over the car to Michael in good shape. Our pit stop was good, and Michael went into P1. The whole team are really pleased with the win.”

Michael Ammermüller (KÜS Team75 Bernhard, Porsche 911): “We couldn't have had a better start to the season. My team-mate had a good first stint and handed the car over to me in second place. I went into P1 in the pits and was then able to maintain a small lead. Those in pursuit were able to have another crack at me thanks to the late safety car period, but my restart was good, and I comfortably secured the win at the finish line.”