Audi driver Christopher Haase kicks off with first best time in season finale

• Former champion fastest in first practice at Hockenheim
• Lamborghini and BMW second and third
• SPORT1 will broadcast both races live and in full on Saturday and Sunday

Hockenheim: Audi driver Christopher Haase (29, DEU, Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) took the first best time of the final weekend of the ADAC GT Masters season at Hockenheim. In FP1, the 2007 ADAC GT Masters champion consigned Lamborghini driver Christian Engelhart (30, DEU, GRT Grasser Racing Team) and Nick Catsburg (29, NL, BMW Team Schnitzer) in the BMW M6 to second and third place respectively. SPORT1 will broadcast the final two races of the Super Sports Car League live and in full on Saturday and Sunday from 1.00 pm onwards. They can also be watched online as live streams at sport1.de, adac.de/motorsport and youtube.com/adac.

Haase managed to post his best time of 1.39.315 minutes early in the session. “We did some testing here on Thursday and discovered one or two things that have enabled the team to give me a great car. I felt comfortable straightaway. It’s nice to be in front. It’s great for motivation but doesn’t really mean much as far as the rest of the race weekend goes,” said the Audi driver.

Engelhart in P2 in the best-placed Lamborghini Huracán missed the top spot by 0.144 seconds. “Everything went well. We’ve already done a fair bit of testing here and are quite well sorted as a result,” said the German. Nick Catsburg was third in the only BMW in the field. The Dutchman shares the M6 GT3 with Philipp Eng (27, A), who is second overall in the standings. However, the Austrian didn’t get to drive during the session. P4 and 5 went to Mercedes-AMG. Indy Dontje (24, NL) & Marvin Kirchhöfer (23, DEU, both Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport) were the best-placed drivers in a ‘Merc’, followed by Nicolai Sylvest (20, DK) and Nikolaj Rogivue (21, CH, both Team Zakspeed).

Championship leader Jules Gounon (22, F) and his partner Daniel Keilwitz (28, DEU, both Callaway Competition), who is back at the wheel of the Corvette bearing start number 77 for the first time since the Red Bull Ring, placed 14th.

The 27 vehicles in the field were bunched very close together during the 60-minute session. 21 of the GT3 sports cars posted lap times within a second of one another.

ADAC GT Masters come-back for Kaffer

Change of drivers at Audi Sport racing academy. Pierre Kaffer (40, DEU) is standing in for Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky (24, S) at short notice this weekend, driving the #8 Audi R8. The German will share the Audi with Ricardo Feller (17, CH), the youngest driver in the ADAC GT Masters field. Kaffer had his last outing in the ADAC GT Masters a year ago when he also contested the season finale at Hockenheim.

Rogivue back at Zakspeed

Swiss driver Nikolaj Rogivue is back in the line-up for Team Zakspeed at Hockenheim. Rogivue missed last week’s meeting at the Sachsenring. He will again partner Nicolai Sylvest in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with start number 20.

Christopher Mies and Remo Lips reach milestones in the series

Last year’s ADAC GT Masters champion, Audi driver Christopher Mies (28, DEU, Montaplast by Land Motorsport) and Nissan driver Remo Lips (34, CH, MRS GT-Racing) will both celebrate reaching special milestones in the season’s finale when they contest their 100th race in the Super Sports Car League on Sunday. Mies made his debut in the ADAC GT Masters in 2008 at the Nürburgring, Lips in 2010 at the Lausitzring.

Tickets for the season finale are available online at www.adac.de/motorsport.