The new ADAC GT Masters champions: Diego Alessi and Daniel Keilwitz

• Alessi/Keilwitz win ADAC GT Masters title in third season together
• Corvette pair secure ADAC GT Masters championship with five victories

All good things come in threes: Diego Alessi (41, Italy) and Daniel Keilwitz (24, Germany) have
won the ADAC GT Masters championship in a Corvette at the third attempt. The Italian and his
German team-mate have been lining up together for Callaway Competition in the ADAC GT
Masters since 2011. This is the first drivers’ title in the ADAC GT Masters for Callaway
Competition, who are the longest serving team in the Super Sports Car League; the outfit led by
Ernst Wöhr and Giovanni Ciccone took the team championship in 2009.

Their route to the title has been quite impressive; Corvette drivers Alessi/Keilwitz have won five
races, and so, are the only driver pairing since Christopher Haase, the first ADAC GT Masters
champion in 2007, to have achieved five wins. However, the season has been a real
rollercoaster. The new champions won the second race at the season-opener in the etropolis
Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, but that was then followed by a fallow period. Alessi/Keilwitz
only managed to secure a measly four points in Spa-Francorchamps and at the Sachsenring, so
their title hopes appeared to have evaporated. But Callaway Competition rolled up their sleeves
during the summer break and prepared for the second half of the season with an intensive
programme of testing. And it paid off, the Callaway drivers put on a spurt in the ADAC GT
Masters weekends at the Red Bull Ring, Lausitzring and Slovakia Ring, winning 4 of 6 races.

This is the biggest success of his motor racing career to date for Alessi, who first began in motor
cycling before switching to four wheels. The trained lawyer has been one of the quickest GT
racing drivers for a number of years. “I’ve shared the car with amateur drivers so many times
during my career and, usually, a top result is not possible at the end of the year. Alessi, who lives
in a small town near Perugia, put his law books to one side some time ago. “I have a law degree
and led a steady existence for a number of years to earn money, but my thoughts were never far
from motor racing. Despite all the financial uncertainties, I then decided at some point to
concentrate fully on motor racing.”

Alessi finds it difficult to hide his roots as a lawyer when preparing for races since no one else is
as meticulous as him before an event. “The moment when Diego leaves a race track, he is
already thinking of the next event,” said Callaway Competition team boss Giovanni Ciccone. “He
likes to take all manner of data home with him to analyse. At the next race, he then discusses
the finest of details with the engineers. His life is motor racing. He’s completely focused on the
sport and has dedicated himself completely to racing.”

This ADAC GT Masters title is the second championship victory of his career for Daniel Keilwitz.
Three years ago, 24-year-old Keilwitz won the FIA GT3 European championship with Callaway
Competition before switching to the ADAC GT Masters. Keilwitz took some of his initial steps in
motor racing in the series. Keilwitz lined up in the DTC des DMSB - ADAC Procar and competed
in the Mini Trophy before moving to a cockpit in a GT3 sports car. Apart from a couple of test
drives, Keilwitz has never raced a single-seater car. Keilwitz works for a chassis manufacturer as
an IT specialist. He is very similar in nature to Alessi. Both are self-effacing and usually act in a
calm, sensible manner.

Ciccone: “Daniel is enormously talented and is getting the final polish with us. Diego and Daniel
complement each other perfectly and learn from one another. Diego works meticulously on the
car and setup and Daniel is very good at putting things into practice. The two together are
simply brilliant.”