A long hot summer: ADAC GT Masters at the Nürburgring

• 2013 ADAC GT Masters reaches halfway point in the Eifel
• Audi drivers René Rast and Christopher Mies main contenders for 'half-time title'
• Götz and Buhk buoyed up after winning 24 Hours of Spa

The long wait is over as the ADAC GT Masters emerges from its summer break. The Super Sports Car League moves into a period of intense activity starting on the weekend of 2nd - 4th August at the Nürburgring. Rounds 7 and 8 of the season at the legendary venue in the Eifel mark the end of the first half of the season and are quickly followed by four more race weekends in the space of nine weeks. The two races at the Nürburgring promise to be action-packed affairs, as the ADAC GT Masters will be using the short (3.618km) Nürburgring sprint circuit.

Keyfacts: Nürburgring (sprint configuration), Races 7 and 8

Circuit length: 3,618 metres
Layout: 10 corners (4 left-handers, 6 right-handers), driven clockwise
Last year's winners of Race 1: René Rast & Christian Mamerow (Mamerow, Audi R8 LMS ultra)
Last year's winners of Race 2: Dino Lunardi & Maxime Martin (ALPINA, BMW ALPINA B6 GT3)
ADAC GT Masters at the Nürburgring on TV: See separate document for times of TV coverage

ADAC GT Masters to crown 'half-time champions' at the Nürburgring

After claiming their second win of the season at the Sachsenring, the partnership of René Rast (26) from Frankfurt and Christopher Mies (24) from Heiligenhaus are in with the best chance of lifting the unofficial title of 'half-time champions' at the Nürburgring. The Audi R8 drivers from the Prosperia C Abt Racing team, owned and run by former ADAC GT Masters champion and DTM driver Christian Abt, currently lead the championship standings. They can expect some of the toughest competition to come from within their own team in the shape of ex-DTM driver Rahel Frey (27) from Switzerland partnered by Markus Winkelhock (33) and from the pairing of former ADAC GT Masters champion Christopher Haase (25) and Christer Jöns (25). Local favourite Frank Schmickler (48) from nearby Rösrath is also back in contention after missing the last race weekend, this time sharing the cockpit of an Audi R8 with Philip Geipel (26) as a member of Plauen-based outfit THE BOSS YACO Racing.

Claudia Hürtgen (41) is looking forward to the second of her two 'home races' of the season. Earlier in the campaign, the Pixum Team Schubert driver from Aachen enjoyed considerable success on the other side of the German-Belgian border, celebrating a first win of the season at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes together with her team-mate, FIA GT3 European Champion Dominik Baumann (20), in their BMW Z4. Currently the second-placed partnership in the championship table, they will be looking for a similar success ahead of Baumann's home race at the Red Bull Ring in his native Austria.

Maximilian Buhk (20) and defending ADAC GT Masters champion Maximilian Götz (27) will arrive at the Nürburgring buoyed by their success in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The two Polarweiss Racing drivers shared the cockpit of their Mercedes SLS AMG with record DTM championship winner Bernd Schneider in last Sunday's victory in Belgium. Götz senses that they may be on a roll: "Last year, I finished on the podium in three out of four ADAC GT Masters races at the Nürburgring, and I wouldn't mind repeating that result this time around." First, though, they will have to see off a strong challenge from the other Polarweiss pairing of Andreas Simonsen (23, Sweden) and Sergey Afanasiev (25, Russia) who are currently in fourth place ahead of speedy Dutchmen Jeroen den Boer (25) and Simon Knap (24) driving a DB Motorsport BMW Z4.

Feeling the pressure more than most are 2012 runners-up Diego Alessi (41) from Italy and Daniel Keilwitz (23) from Villingen in their Callaway Competition Corvette. After notching up a win at the start of the season, they subsequently experienced two difficult race weekends at Spa and at the Sachsenring. Callaway Competition have used the summer break for a series of intensive tests in order to be well prepared for the busy second half of the season. Frank Kechele (26) from Ulm and Dominik Schwager (36) from Munich are aiming make up lost ground in another American supercar: the Lambda Performance duo in their Ford GT have recently endured a points famine and hope to reduce the deficit at the Nürburgring.

Still targeting their first victory of the season are the Porsche teams; significantly, the last time a 911 won an ADAC GT Masters race at the Nürburgring is now more than five years ago. Reason enough for the current strong crop of Porsche teams - Tonino powered by Herberth Motorsport, Farnbacher Racing and Team Geyer & Weinig EDV/Schütz Motorsport - to go on the attack in the Eifel. Robert Renauer (28) of Tonino by Herberth Motorsport has a new temporary co-driver: Porsche Junior Michael Christensen (22) from Denmark is standing in for Martin Ragginger (25) from Austria who is double-booked for the weekend.

Tough competition in the Gentlemen classification

The Gentlemen stakes are more closely contested than usual. Current leader René Bourdeaux (38) from Munich who shares a Tonino by Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 with Alfred Renauer (28), also from Munich, is up against some tough competition from the likes of second-placed Christina Nielsen (21, Denmark) partnered by Porsche ace Sean Edwards (26, GB) in a Farnbacher Racing Porsche 911 and two-time former amateur champion Toni Seiler (55, Switzerland) ably assisted by former DTM driver Jeroen Bleekemolen (31, NL) in their Callaway Competition Corvette Z06.