Facts and Figures: Key statistics for the ADAC GT Masters 2013 season

• Alessi/Keilwitz post the most kilometres in the lead and are the most consistent driver pairing
• Nine different race winners and championship leaders in the course of the season
• Closest finish and fastest race ever in the history of the series

The 2013 ADAC GT Masters season produced one record after another – closest finish, fastest race, fastest qualifying lap, highest top speed and the most exciting title fight – and many new records were set in 2013 in the Super Sports Cars League. A thrilling season in facts and figures:

The drivers: 92 drivers in total from 17 countries were in the line-up. Almost half of them, 47 to be precise, came from abroad

The teams: 21 teams from five different countries fielded supercars from ten different manufacturers.

Change of lead: The lead changed hands 40 times between 20 different driver pairings during the 16 races.

Huge variety: Nine different driver pairings, racing supercars from six manufacturers (Audi, BMW, Corvette, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche) secured victories in the 16 races.

Champion: Most victories went to Corvette this season. The American sports car claimed five wins, followed by BMW with four and Ford with three. BMW drivers came away with the most trophies: BMW drivers finished on the podium 14 times.

Taking turns: The championship lead changed hands nine times in the course of the season between eight different driver pairings.

Collecting fever: The most trophies went to Maximilian Buhk/Maximilian Götz and Claudia Hürtgen/Dominik Baumann. The Mercedes pair and the BMW duo took podiums in six races.

Kilometre kings: Counting from the start of first practice to the end of the second race, the supercars covered a total of 27,511 laps at the eight race weekends, which equates to a distance of 119,984km.

Winners: New champions Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz achieved the most race wins. The Corvette drivers posted five wins, breaking the record set by Christopher Haase in 2007.

Consistent: To become champion, you need both speed and consistency. In 2013, Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz were also the most consistent drivers, successfully completing all 537 laps, 2,313.675 kilometres in total. Apart from the winning Corvette, the Polarweiss Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of Andreas Simonsen, Sergey Afanasiev, Thomas Jäger and Luca Ludwig also covered the full distance.

Top speed: ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Lennart Marioneck was clocked doing 271 km/h at the end of the long Kemmel straight during the second qualifying session at the Spa- Francorchamps Formula 1 circuit. No other ADAC GT Masters driver has ever been as fast as the Corvette driver.

Quickest: Frank Kechele is the fastest driver in the ADAC GT Masters on two counts. So far, the 27-year-old has started from pole position eight times, more than any other driver in the ADAC GT Masters. He also set a new qualifying record in the Spa-Francorchamps quali with a lap average of 180.9km/h.

Thrills galore: The Red Bull Ring race produced the most exciting finish ever in the history of the ADAC GT Masters. Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz won with a lead of just 0.2 seconds on Maximilian Buhk/Maximilian Götz in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. With a lap average of 164.6 km/h, the second race at the Red Bull Ring also produced the highest average speed ever in the history of the series.

Young and old: Fabian Hamprecht was the youngest driver of the 2013 season, aged just 17 as he lined up at the season opener in the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Gerd Beisel was the oldest (56). The ADAC GT Masters drivers’ median age was 29 by the end of the season, and so, they were two years younger than in the previous year on average.

No pushover: In the 16 races, all the eventual winners had to relinquish the lead for at least one lap, and no single team achieved a comfortable start-finish victory.

Best rookie: Philip Frommenwiler was the most successful newcomer. In his debut year in the ADAC GT Masters, the Swiss driver achieved three podium finishes in the Porsche 911 along with Mario Farnbacher and ended the season ranked 12th.

Qualifying champ: Ford collected the most pole positions. The Ford GT started from the top spot in five races. Frank Kechele took three poles in the U.S. flounder and secured the greatest number of pole positions in the 2013 season.

Most emphatic victory: Claudia Hürtgen and Dominik Baumann achieved the most emphatic win at the Nürburgring. The BMW duo won with a lead of 9.294 seconds on the Corvette of Toni Seiler/Jeroen Bleekemolen.

Hot laps: Eleven drivers posted fastest lap times. Only René Rast (Audi), Frank Kechele (Ford), Daniel Keilwitz (Corvette), Christer Jöns (Audi) and Nico Verdonck (Ford) achieved more than one fastest lap during the season, producing fastest laps in two races.

Speedy Gentlemen: There were six different race winners in the Gentlemen class. Winner of the Gentlemen category Christina Nielsen in the Porsche and fellow Porsche driver René Bourdeaux secured the most victories, taking five wins each. Porsche was the most successful make in class, winning a total of ten races, followed by Corvette with five successes and BMW with one victory.

The ADAC GT Masters will again stage eight events during the 2014 season, featuring 16 races. Free-to-air TV channel kabel eins will broadcast live pictures from all 16 ADAC GT Masters races in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on Saturdays and Sundays. The season opener takes place from April 25th to 27th 2014 in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.