Rast/Mies achieve brilliant debut win for Abt-Audi team

• Superb charge by Rast/Mies from 15th place on grid to victory
• Christina Nielsen first lady to win Gentlemen standings
• Rahel Frey and Markus Winkelhock secure Top Ten result

The etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben proved a good stomping ground for ex-DTM driver Christian Abt in the 2009 season; Abt lifted the ADAC GT Masters title at the circuit. Four years later, the newly formed team Prosperia C. Abt Racing composed of Christian Abt, Christopher Mies (23, Germany) and René Rast (26, Germany) triumphed at the season-opener in an Audi R8 after going on a superb charge up the field. From 15th position on the grid, the Audi drivers achieved victory in the first race of the season. In an action-packed race on a wet track, second and third went to the Porsche duos of Philip Frommenwiler (23 Switzerland)/Mario Farnbacher (20, Germany/Farnbacher Racing) and Robert Renauer (28, Germany)/Martin Ragginger (25, Austria/Tonino-Herberth Motorsport).

Key facts, etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben Race 1

Length: 3.696km
Weather: 7 degrees, rain
Pole Position Race 1: Maximilian Buhk (Polarweiss Racing, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3) 1:28.049 minutes
Winner, Race 1: Christopher Mies/René Rast (Prosperia C. Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra)
Fastest lap: René Rast (Prosperia C. Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra) 1:41.863 min

Robert Renauer dominates first half of race in Porsche

The wet track in Oschersleben produced plenty of action from first to last lap. The race got off to a cracking start: pole-sitter Maximilian Buhk (20, Germany/Polarweiss Racing) in the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche driver Christian Engelhart (26, Germany/Team Geyer & Weinig / Schütz Motorsport) could not decide who had right of way in the first turn. Robert Renauer in third place had the last laugh as he moved past the pair of them into the lead, showing his opponents a perfect view of the tail-lights on his Porsche 911. By the driver changeover, Renauer had built up a cushion of 15 seconds between himself and his pursuers, ADAC GT Masters newcomer Frommenwiler in the Porsche and Sergej Afanasiev (25, Russia/Polarweiss Racing) in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. After the change of drivers from Renauer to Ragginger, the Porsche’s lead fell off a cliff: Ragginger was suffering from a loss of power due to a defective exhaust and had to relinquish the top spot to fellow Porsche driver Farnbacher, who had taken over the Porsche 911 from team-mate Frommenwiler.

But Farnbacher was not allowed to sit back in the lead: at his rear, Audi driver René Rast, who along with team-mate Christopher Mies had started in 15th position, was rapidly catching up as he delighted fans with a brilliant charge. With ten minutes to go to the end of the race, Farnbacher could no longer fend off Rast’s attacks. Rast took the lead, winning by 8.2 seconds.

A brilliant charge and perfect strategy result in victory for Audi team

Race winner, Mies: “It was very chaotic going into the first turn, but I found just the right gap. However, I then got stuck behind a group of several competitors and was unable to find a way past. The team reacted brilliantly and called me in for an early change of drivers. A perfect pit stop enabled René to move up four places.”

This fourth overall victory in the ADAC GT Masters came quite unexpectedly for René Rast: “You don’t expect to actually win a race from 15th position. But the rain played into our hands today. Christopher got away to a great start. He was seventh after the first lap. The early pit stop then gave us the lead.”

The win was hard fought in the final phase of the race, and so was the battle for third place. There was an exciting scrap between Ragginger and 2011 ADAC GT Masters champion Dino Lunardi (34, France/THE BOSS YACO Racing) in an Audi R8. Ragginger finally won through against Lunardi and his team-mate Philip Geipel (28, Germany). Fifth went to Nico Verdonck (27, Belgium) and Frank Kechele (26, Germany / Lambda Performance) as their brand new Ford GT had its first outing.

Christina Nielsen secures debut victory in Gentlemen standings

In the Gentlemen standings, a woman outshone the men in the rain at Oschersleben: ex-Formel ADAC driver Christina Nielsen (21 / Denmark) won in a Porsche 911 at her ADAC GT Masters debut together with fellow Dane Allan Simonsen (34, Denmark/ Farnbacher Racing), securing another trophy for team boss Horst Farnbacher. Second place went to Remo Lips (31, Switzerland / Callaway Competition) aided by ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Lennart Marioneck (24, Munich) in a Corvette. The party on the gentleman’s podium was completed by Eduard Leganov (41, Czech Republic) and Fabian Hamprecht (17 / rhino’s Leipert Motorsport) in the Lamborghini Gallardo.

Claudia Hürtgen wins ladies’ duel against Rahel Frey

In her first ADAC GT Masters race, former DTM driver Rahel Frey (27 CH) was ninth, along with Markus Winkelhock (32, Germany /Prosperia C. Abt Racing). So, the Swiss lady driver lost the duel of the fastest women to Claudia Hürtgen in the BMW Z4, who, along with Dominik Baumann (20, Austria / PIXUM Team Schubert) came home one place up on Frey/Winkelhock at the finish.

Defending champion Götz starts on pole on Sunday in the second race

Defending champion Maximilian Götz (27, Uffenheim / Polarweiss Racing), together with Maximilian Buhk, had an action-packed race with two slides off track, a drive-through penalty and finished eleventh in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. In the second race on Sunday, the two Mercedes-Benz drivers have the chance to improve their performance from Saturday. In the second race, Götz starts ahead of Corvette driver Daniel Keilwitz (23, Germany/ Callaway Competition) and Christian Mamerow (28, Germany / Prosperia C. Abt Racing) from P1.

The 2013 ADAC GT Masters will once again be contested over 16 rounds on eight race weekends throughout the year. All 16 races of the ADAC GT Masters will be shown on free-to-air TV station kabel eins. The live broadcasts to audiences in Germany, Austria and Switzerland commence at 12 noon on both the Saturday and the Sunday. The Super Sports Car League is being hosted by two new venues this time: the Formula 1 circuit at Spa-Francorchamps and the Slovakia Ring in Slovakia. The curtain-raiser for the seventh season of the ADAC GT Masters will be staged on the weekend of 26th - 28th April at the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

Tickets for all ADAC GT Masters races start at €20 and can be purchased online at www.adac.de, from any ADAC branch office, online at www.eventim.de or from one of the more than 20.000 Eventim outlets throughout Europe.

Race Result

1. Christopher Mies/René Rast (Prosperia C. Abt Racing-Audi R8 LMS ultra), 33 laps
2. Philipp Frommenwiler/Mario Farnbacher (Farnbacher Racing-Porsche 911 GT3), +8.279 Sec.
3. Robert Renauer/Martin Ragginger (Tonino/Herbert Motorsport-Porsche 911 GT3), +15.998 Sec.
4. Philip Geipel/Dino Lunardi (THE BOSS YACO Racing-Audi R8 LMS ultra), +16.881 Sec.
5. Nico Verdonck/Frank Kechele (Lambda Performance-Ford GT), +17.998 Sec.
6. Christer Jöns/Christian Mamerow (Prosperia C. Abt Racing-Audi R8 LMS ultra), +22.586 Sec.