Marking the 100th ADAC GT Masters race: Highlights remembered

• Christopher Haase is most successful driver in the series
• Corvette driver Toni Seiler is longest-serving driver in the ADAC GT Masters
• Race reporter Swen Wauer has commentated at every fixture

The ADAC GT Masters is in celebratory mood: The weekend at the Slovakia Ring (September
13th-15th) is the 50th race weekend ever to take place in the history of the Super Sports Cars
League. Sunday’s race (live on kabel eins, starting at 12:00pm) will be the 100th in the series.
To mark the occasion, the most successful driver, the most senior driver, and the only person to
have watched every single race remember their personal best moments from the previous 98
ADAC GT Masters races.

The most successful: Christopher Haase

The career of Christopher Haase (25, Germany / Prosperia C Abt Racing) is closely intertwined
with the ADAC GT Masters. Haase, currently in an Audi and the first ever ADAC GT Masters
champion is the most successful driver in the series with eleven victories so far. Haase was not
only the first champion but also secured the very first pole position at the ADAC GT Masters
debut in 2007, winning the inaugural race along with former Ferrari Formula 1 driver Gianni
Morbidelli in the Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo.

“I still look back very fondly to the opening race weekend of the ADAC GT Masters at the
Nürburgring in 2007. I had previously been competing in ADAC club sport, racing a 90bhp Dacia
Logan, and then suddenly found myself in the cockpit of a 500bhp Lamborghini, lining up at the
Nürburgring. No one had heard of me before but, after achieving pole position and the win,
everyone wanted to know who I was.” There’s another reason why the premiere in the Eifel
sticks in Haase’s mind. “I was so nervous before the race that I simply jumped the gun. I had to
see the race director afterwards, and his words of admonishment are still ringing in my ears.”

“Another event that I remember very well took place during the 2009 season. I was competing
in the FIA GT3 European Championship in Portugal and took the Audi R8 to victory in both races
with Christopher Mies. And the following weekend, I also won both ADAC GT Masters races at
the Sachsenring in the R8, that time with Henri Moser. The twin successes at the Sachsenring
represent some of my best moments in the ADAC GT Masters.”

The most senior: Toni Seiler

So far, no other driver has participated in as many ADAC GT Masters races as Corvette driver
Toni Seiler (55, Switzerland / Callaway Competition). The long-serving veteran, who always
drives a Corvette, has missed only two weekends: “There have been many highlights in all of the
races, as, for example, when I secured my maiden win with Patrick Gerling in 2007 at the
Lausitzring. After crossing the finish line, we climbed onto the car’s roof to claim victory. Many
others have done that since. Unfortunately, the following day, the Corvette crashed into the wall
and we had to sit out the next event in Zolder. The Nürburgring race in 2010 was also quite
special. I was in the lead until just before the finish when it began to rain. I ended up slipping
and sliding all over the place and took the chequered flag in third place.”

It is difficult to imagine Seiler in the ADAC GT Masters without his trademark, yellow Corvette,
but Moni too has also been a constant companion. “My wife Monika has been with me at every
ADAC GT Masters weekend. I am very grateful to her for that, because if it hadn’t been for her
support and her love of motor racing, I certainly would not be where I am today, still sitting in a
racing car. ”Even when at the wheel of his yellow Corvette, he is still thinking of Moni, as the American yellow sports car in which Seiler first lined up at the Sachsenring in 2007, has been
named süße Moni – gorgeous Moni – after his wife. Whilst Seiler has remained true to his one
and only, the Corvette had to make way for a younger model, süße Moni 2, in early 2012.

The voice of the ADAC GT Masters: track commentator Swen Wauer

Swen Wauer is the voice behind the ADAC GT Masters and has commentated on all of the races
so far for fans at the track. Wauer reminisces: “Many incredible moments during the last 98
races have got me quite excited. The moment at the Nürburgring in 2007 when the field left the
pits for the first time to begin the first free practice session led by a Porsche was very special, as
was watching Christopher Haase take his first tentative steps in motor racing, but also seeing
the two Czech drivers Martin Matzke and Jiri Skula, aged just 16 at the time, really shake the
field up back in 2007 is unforgettable. Other things that stick in my mind? Well, there’s Mickey
Raja, who has become a permanent fixture in the commentator’s box, and Mario Farnbacher’s
second place in his second ADAC GT Masters race at Hockenheim in 2011 at the wheel of a
Ferrari. But I’ll never forget Sebastian Asch and Maximilian Götz either when they secured the
title in last year’s final race. Plus, teams have staged some fabulous parties in the paddock,
complete with legendary karaoke contributions from Frank Kechele.”

There have been plenty of challenging moments behind the microphone to keep him on his toes
during the 49 race weekends staged to date: “I especially remember the water fest in 2011 at
the Red Bull Ring, when things got really chaotic after a rain shower in the middle of the race.
Keeping track of everything was not easy in the circumstances but terrific fun.”

Only once in the previous 98 races has Wauer really been lost for words: “A local radio station
was at the Sachsenring, broadcasting the ADAC GT Masters. The connecting piece was short and
concise: “We are now handing you back to the Jenson Button of the Sachsenring, to Swen
Wauer and the ADAC GT Masters.” There was a brief silence, but I am sure that fans were just as
bemused as I was by his introduction.”