Championship leaders Alessi/Keilwitz on pole for both ADAC GT Masters races

• Corvette duo hog pride of place throughout weekend
• Well-matched field of 23 sports cars within one second
• Pleasing debut for Formula 2 champion Mirko Bortolotti

The championship leaders have got their weekend off to a perfect start: Diego Alessi (40 ITA) and Daniel Keilwitz (22, Villingen / Callaway Competition) are monopolising pole position on both Saturday and Sunday at the Sachsenring. In a prematurely terminated first qualifying session, Alessi effectively had the front grid slot handed to him on a plate; Keilwitz found himself up against tough opposition in the second session but still prevailed in a highly competitive field of 39 vehicles, 23 of which qualified within one second of
each other. “It doesn’t get much better than this,” said a jubilant Keilwitz after taking his third pole in the ‘Super Sports Car League’.

Key facts, Sachsenring
Length of track: 3,645 metres
Weather: 20°C, cloudy
Pole position in Race 1: Diego Alessi (Callaway Competition, Corvette Z06), no lap time set due to abandoned qualifying session, grid positions allocated according to current championship standings (ADAC GT Masters Regulations, Article 35)
Pole position in Race 2: Daniel Keilwitz (Callaway Competition, Corvette Z06), 01:21.762 minutes

Diego Alessi to start from front slot for second time

Diego Alessi (40 ITA, Callaway Competition) booked his second consecutive pole position, this time without a fight. Qualifying for the first race on Saturday had to be abandoned after only five minutes of the 40 advertised on the programme. This was due to an accident involving Carsten Tilke (28, Munich / Prosperia uhc speed) in his Audi R8. The son of racetrack architect Hermann Tilke was unhurt, but the barriers were sufficiently damaged to warrant immediate repairs. The ADAC GT Masters Regulations do not provide for a restart in the event of interruption, so the starting line-up for the first race on Saturday was determined by the current championship standings. Consequently, Diego Alessi starts from pole position, sharing the front row with Simon Knap (23, NL / DB Motorsport). On Row 2 are reigning ADAC GT Masters champion Dino Lunardi (33, FRA / ALPINA) in the BMW ALPINA B6 and Maximilian Götz (26, Uffenheim / kfzteile24 MS RACING Team) in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.

Keilwitz and Schwager in ding-dong battle

There was an exciting contest for top spot in the second qualifying session. Dominik Schwager (35, Munich / Schubert Motorsport) driving a BMW Z4 put in the first seriously good lap time, but was then displaced by Keilwitz. The BMW driver attacked again, but ultimately had to settle for P2 on the grid, just 0.166 seconds behind the table-topping Corvette. “I went out on track right at the start of qualifying and gently warmed up my tyres,” said a well-satisfied Keilwitz. “My first flying lap then went like a dream. Having two poles – one of them a gift and the other well earned – is a great basis for the two races.”

Second-placed Schwager is not too disappointed with P2 on the grid and is looking forward to the two races: “The standard of competition is very high this weekend, so we weren’t expecting to be on the front row. There will definitely be some extremely exciting racing, so the fans can rest assured that they will be getting good value for their money on Saturday and Sunday.”

Maxime Martin (26, Belgium / ALPINA) in the BMW ALPINA B6 and Christopher Mies (22, Heiligenhaus / Prosperia uhc speed) will be starting from the second row in Sunday’s race. Celebrating a strong ADAC GT Masters debut is Mirko Bortolotti (22, ITA / Schubert Motorsport) – in his first ever competitive outing in a sports car, the reigning Formula 2 champion in the BMW Z4 took a highly creditable fifth place.

Best qualifying result yet for Schulze Nissan in home race

Leipzig-based Schulze Motorsport can also be well satisfied with the performance of their Nissan on the first day of the weekend at their ‘local’ track. Tobias Schulze (30, Tagewerben) qualified eleventh and thereby secured the best grid position yet for the Nissan GT-R in the ADAC GT Masters.