Dörr Motorsport claims first McLaren victory in the ADAC GT Masters

• Ben Dörr and Guilherme de Oliveira win race one at Salzburgring premiere
• Jonas Karklys and Emil Gjerdrum take victory in the Pro-AM Cup
• Five different manufacturers in the top five

Plainfeld. Maiden victory at the Salzburgring premiere. Ben Dörr (20/Butzbach) and Guilherme de Oliveira (20/POR) celebrated the win in Saturday’s ADAC GT Masters race – and earned their place in the history books. Dörr Motorsport, making a guest appearance in the series, claimed the first McLaren victory in the history of the ADAC GT Masters, and also became the first DTM team to win a race in the ADAC’s GT3 series. “It is always nice to be the first to do something. I would like to say a big thank you to McLaren and our team – the car was really super today. Apart from our penalty, we had a flawless race. We were both able to push and pulled off the overtaking manoeuvres well and with aplomb,” said delighted DTM driver Ben Dörr. His team-mate de Oliveira added: “We made a good start from fourth on the grid and climbed straight into second place. Unfortunately, we dropped back again due to a penalty, but Ben had a good middle stint and our strategy was spot on. A wonderful day!” Jannes Fittje (26/Langenhain) and Moritz Wiskirchen (22/Euskirchen/both SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm) in a Mercedes-AMG GT3, and twins Sandro and Juliano Holzem (21/Polch/Schubert Motorsport) in a BMW M4 GT3 completed the podium.

The team lined up for the very first ADAC GT Masters race at the Salzburgring in glorious sunshine and temperatures around 19 degrees. The start saw the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of de Oliveira immediately slot into second place behind pole-sitter Jonathan Cecotto (26/VEN/Haupt Racing Team). He then retained this position through to the first driver changeover. A penalty received for an incident in the pit lane then resulted in Dörr dropping back to 14th place. However, by the time he came in for the final stop, he had battled his way back up to sixth. De Oliveira ultimately pulled off the decisive manoeuvre immediately after the final stop, taking the lead and not looking back until he took the chequered flag.

Prior to that, a safety car phase after the first pit stop window had seen the field bunch back together. The big beneficiaries of this were Wiskirchen and Fittje, who had started the race from seventh place. “It was pretty certain that there would be a safety car on this track, which is why we opted for the logical strategy of going long in the first stint,” said Wiskirchen. “We had a good start and Jannes drove a super stint. Fortunately, I was able to gain another position after the restart, which meant we got the maximum out of the race.” The same could be said of Juliano Holzem in a BMW M4 GT3, who climbed one place after the final safety car phase to secure a place on the podium for himself and his twin Sandro. “The race was chaotic, but it all went well for us in the end,” said Juliano Holzem, who had started from sixth on the grid. “I noticed from the word go that the race pace was super. My overtaking manoeuvre in turn eleven was tricky, but fortunately it all worked out and we had a perfect race.”

Fourth place went to the local favourites from Razoon – more than Racing. Simon Birch (18/DNK) had guided the Porsche 911 GT3 R to second place in his stint, but team-mate Leo Pichler (23/AT) was unable to prevent first the McLaren and then Wiskirchen and Holzem from passing him. The Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 of Finn Zulauf (20/Königsstein) and Simon Connor Primm (20/Großschirma/Paul Motorsport) could not find a way past and had to settle for fifth place. Tim Zimmermann (28/Langenargen) and Leyton Fourie (19/RSA/both FK Performance Motorsport) came home sixth in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo. They were followed over the finish line by Salman Owega (20/Cologne) and Finn Wiebelhaus (19/Obertshausen/both Haupt Racing Team) in a Ford Mustang GT3. They had fallen down through the field after receiving a penalty for a collision that caused their team-mates Dennis Fetzer (24/Gießen) and Jonathan Cecotto (26/VEN) to spin. The pole-sitters eventually finished eighth. Ninth place, and with it the third win of the season in the Pro-AM Cup, went to Lamborghini drivers Jonas Karklys (36/LIT) and Emil Gjerdrum (18/NOR/both Liqui Moly Team Engstler by GRT). BMW racers Eduardo Coseteng (21/PHL) and Julian Hanses (28/Hilden/both FK Performance Motorsport) completed the top ten, having led the race briefly as various pit stop strategies played out.

Race one at the Salzburgring will be repeated in full at 21:15 on TV station Sky Sports. The second qualifying session in the ADAC GT Masters will be broadcast live from 10:35 on Sunday at youtube.com/adacmotorsports. The second endurance race is scheduled to start at 14:50 and will be shown live on TV on Sport1, and streamed live on sport1.de, Joyn, ServusTV ON and YouTube.