Hürtgen and Baumann claim first win of season for BMW

• Claudia Hürtgen and Dominik Baumann win in style at Lausitzring
• Ex-Formula 1 driver Alguersuari seventh in a Mercedes-Benz
• World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier finishes eighth in an Audi

Claudia Hürtgen (42, GER) and Austrian co-driver Dominik Baumann (21) have claimed the first victory of the 2014 campaign for BMW and for PIXUM Team Schubert. This triumph for BMW means that four different super sports car manufacturers have picked up winners’ trophies in the first six races of the 2014 ADAC GT Masters. Starting from pole position, Hürtgen and Baumann in their BMW Z4 built up a commanding lead which they maintained through to the chequered flag. South Africa’s Kelvin van der Linde (17) and René Rast in a Prosperia C Abt Racing Audi R8 finished as runners-up to secure their fifth podium of the season. The Dutch-Austrian pairing of Jaap van Lagen (37) and Martin Ragginger (25) in a GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport Porsche 911 took the third podium spot, a result that was enough to keep van Lagen at the top of the drivers’ standings. “We consistently made the correct decisions all weekend and simply extracted 100% from our package,” said a jubilant Hürtgen. “I have never known the running gear on our BMW to be in such excellent shape as this weekend, and we exploited it to the full.”

Battle for lead on first lap

Dutch driver Jeroen Bleekemolen (32) in his Callaway Competition Corvette was quicker off the mark than Dominik Baumann in the BMW, but the pole-sitter turned the tables on Lap 2 and overtook Bleekemolen, as did Rast in the Audi R8. There was no stopping Baumann once he had taken the lead. The Austrian extended the gap on Rast to eight seconds before handing the car over to Claudia Hürtgen, who then maintained the lead on van der Linde after the pit stop. The South African reduced the deficit on the most successful woman driver in the ADAC GT Masters to 2.6 seconds over the course of the final lap but could not get close enough to launch an attack. “I decided not to take any unnecessary risks in the race, which is why the Audi got a little closer,” said Hürtgen.

“It was already clear to me before the start that the Corvette was going to get past, but subsequently I was significantly faster and had no problem in retaking the lead,” said Baumann. “Our car was brilliant. There was no need to change a single thing after practice, and it all went as planned.”

Championship leader van Lagen made a good start, moving his Porsche up into fourth. After the driver changeover, Ragginger took third place thanks to a good pit stop and remained there until the end of the race. Fourth place was hotly disputed in a thrilling six-way battle that continued right onto the last lap. Toni Seiler (56, CH) in a Callaway Competition Corvette was in the vanguard of a group all jockeying for position, composed of Philipp Frommenwiler (24, CH) in a Farnbacher Racing Porsche 911, Nico Bastian (24, GER) in a ROWE Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Jan Seyffarth (27, GER) also of ROWE Racing, Maximilian Buhk (21, GER) in an HTP Motorsport Mercedes and Max Sandritter (25, GER) in a PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4. Frommenwiler took fourth place from Seiler, which is where he and partner Sebastian Asch (27, GER) finished the race.

Seiler successfully defended his P5 until the final lap, but the race ended in the gravel bed for the Swiss driver and Buhk on the final turn: the HTP Motorsport man collided with Seiler while overtaking him, and both the SLS AMG and the Corvette were forced to retire. Seyffarth and co-driver Maro Engel (28, GER) finished fifth ahead of the BMW driven by Sandritter and Jens Klingmann (23, GER).

Ex-Formula 1 star Alguersuari ahead of World Rally Champion Ogier

Ex-Formula 1 driver Jaime Alguersuari (24) sharing the cockpit of a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with Nico Bastian finished his second ADAC GT Masters outing in seventh place. “My team-mate Nico Bastian had to do most of the hard work today and he drove a great race,” said the Spanish driver, full of praise for his partner. “It was my job today to take care of the start. It’s the first time I’ve had the responsibility in this series, so I didn’t want to take too many risks. Even so, I managed to make good a few positions. I actually learned more in today’s race than I did yesterday. I’m happy with my performance this weekend, but it will certainly take another few races before I know the car well enough to utilise its full potential. We intend to finish even further forward in the next race at the Red Bull Ring.”

World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier (30) and co-driver Markus Winkelhock (33, GER) had their second ADAC GT Masters race together in the Prosperia C Abt Audi R8 and secured points with a P8 finish. Starting from 19th, Ogier had advanced up the field to 15th by the time the pit stop window opened. Despite a five-second penalty incurred by the Frenchman at the start, Winkelhock then brought the R8 across the finish line in eighth position. “I enjoyed the weekend very much; it was a lot of fun,” said Ogier. “I kept on improving and my lap times were not at all bad. Our overall performance could have been a bit better, but we had a problem on Friday and didn’t get much track time in, which made things quite tricky. I’m very pleased, though, and would like to thank Prosperia C Abt Racing, Christian Abt, Slobodan Cvetkovic and, last but not least, Markus Winkelhock for this opportunity and a great weekend. Competing in the ADAC GT Masters was certainly a terrific experience.”

Daniel Keilwitz (24, GER) and Englishman Oliver Gavin (41) in a Callaway Competition Corvette had a difficult time, going off track once and spinning twice, but still managed to salvage two championship points with a ninth-place finish ahead of the kfzteile24 APR Motorsport Audi R8 driven by Florian Stoll (32, GER) and Daniel Dobitsch (29, GER). After crossing the line in eighth position in their Reiter Engineering Chevrolet Camaro, Albert von Thurn und Taxis (30) and Tomas Enge (37) were handed a subsequent 30-second penalty for an avoidable collision, which bumped them down to 14th.

For most of the race, it looked as if Toni Seiler would pick up the winner’s trophy in the Gentlemen classification, but the accident on the last lap of the race not only deprived him of fifth place overall but also a win in the amateur stakes. The beneficiary was TONINO Team Herberth’s Herbert Handlos, making it five class wins in a row for the Porsche man. Seiler still hung on to his second-place ranking ahead of team-mate and fellow Swiss contestant Remo Lips (32).

Result: Race 2 (Top Six)

1. Claudia Hürtgen / Dominik Baumann (PIXUM Team Schubert, BMW Z4 GT3), 44 laps
2. Kelvin van der Linde / René Rast (Prosperia C Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +2.694 sec
3. Martin Ragginger / Jaap van Lagen (GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), +20.326 sec
4. Philipp Frommenwiler / Sebastian Asch (Farnbacher Racing, Porsche 911 GT3), +48.897 sec
5. Jan Seyffarth / Maro Engel (ROWE RACING, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3), +54.841 sec
6. Maximilian Sandritter / Jens Klingmann (PIXUM Team Schubert, BMW Z4 GT3), +55.449 sec