A display worthy of champions: Owega and Wiebelhaus win final race

• Champions Salman Owega and Finn Wiebelhaus win the final race of the season in Hockenheim
• Leyton Fourie and Tim Zimmermann finish second in the race and runners-up in the ADAC GT Masters
• Schwarzer and Fach win in the Pro-AM Cup

Hockenheim. The ADAC GT Masters champions are on song: Salman Owega (20/Cologne) and Finn Wiebelhaus (19/Obertshausen/both Haupt Racing Team) won the final race of the season in Hockenheim. The duo in the Ford Mustang GT3 finished 1.770 seconds ahead of the BMW M4 GT3 of Tim Zimmermann (29/Langenargen) and Leyton Fourie (20/RSA/both FK Performance Motorsport), who ended the season in second place in the overall standings. “I am so happy that we won that race. We started the season strongly, and ended it the same way,” said Wiebelhaus. “I knew I would be fast in the race here. After winning the title, I was able to drive freely and really take the shackles off. It was just great fun.” His team-mate Owega added: “We could not have ended the season better than that. I expected Finn to make his way through the field a bit, but never thought it would end that well.” Yesterday’s winners Nico Hantke (21/Hürth) and Denis Bulatov (26/Scherer Sport PHX) completed the podium in their Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2.

Pole-sitter Alexander Fach (23/CHE/Fach Auto Tech) initially held onto the lead at the start. However, Fourie’s BMW was closing in on the leading Porsche all the time. The South African studied Fach carefully, determined the Porsche’s weaknesses, and eventually attacked in the hairpin on lap eight. After a battle that lasted several corners, Fourie took the lead. He then tried to look after the tyres for his team-mate Zimmermann. Further down the field, Hantke and Owega were embroiled in a brief battle at the start. However, they ultimately remained third and fourth in their stint. After the driver changeover and a shorter time spent stationary, in accordance with the regulations, Schwarzer (36/DEU) returned to the track in his Porsche with a lead of roughly ten seconds over Zimmermann in the BMW. While the Zimmermann was steadily closing in on the leader, newly-crowned champion Wiebelhaus was flying in fourth place. In no time at all, he worked his way past first Bulatov, then Zimmermann, and eventually Schwarzer to take the lead in his Ford Mustang GT3. “Salman left me with good tyres, then it was just a case of pedal to the metal for me. I drove one qualifying lap after another,” Wiebelhaus revealed.

Zimmermann was powerless to fend off Wiebelhaus, instead opting to focus on getting past Schwarzer and picking up the points for finishing second. “To be honest, I did not really apply any pressure in the end, because I did not want to take any risks,” said Zimmermann. “We are now second in the championship. We should be happy, even though not everything went entirely to plan. However, that is a fair reflection of our season. It was a rollercoaster ride, and to now finish on the podium again and be runners-up in the championship is a nice way to end the season.”

Zimmermann’s approach opened the door for the Audi of Bulatov, who first overtook Schwarzer, then set about steadily closing the gap to the car ahead. In the end, Bulatov crossed the finish line just 0.539 seconds behind the BMW of FK Performance Motorsport. “Qualifying was very important today, and Nico drove a good first half of the race, managing to stay in touch with the front-runners in third place,” said Bulatov. “Our pace was not so good at times in the middle of the race, but I was able to really push again with an empty tank towards the end. It was really close, but unfortunately second place was not to be. However, this podium, on the back of yesterday’s victory, is the perfect way to end the season.”

Fach and Schwarzer came home fourth to secure their seventh win of the season in the Pro-AM Cup. Rounding out the top five were twins Sandro and Juliano Holzem (21/Polch/both Schubert Motorsport) in a BMW M4 GT3 Evo, ahead of fellow BMW racers Eduardo Coseteng (22/PHL) and Julian Hanses (28/Hilden/both FK Performance Motorsport). In seventh place were Jannes Fittje (26/Langenhain) and Moritz Wiskirchen (23/Euskirchen/both SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm). They were followed by two Haupt Racing Team duos in the Ford Mustang GT3, with Dennis Fetzer (24/Gießen) and Jonathan Cecotto (26/VEN) leading home Max Reis (18/Ramstein) and Niklas Kalus (20/Duisburg). Completing the top ten were Leo Pichler (23/AUT) and Simon Birch (18/DNK/both Razoon – more than racing), who ended the season in third place in the championship.

The ADAC GT Masters teams now head into the winter break, before preparing for a very special season. From 24th to 26th April 2026, the Red Bull Ring will host the opening round of the 20th anniversary season in the ADAC’s GT3 series. Tickets start at € 49 and are available now at dtm.com.