Pursuer van Lagen puts ADAC GT Masters championship leaders under pressure

• Promising grid position for second-placed Jaap van Lagen driving a Porsche
• Mercedes man Luca Ludwig claims pole for Saturday
• Corvette lockout on Row 1 in last race of season for Keilwitz and Simonsen

Hockenheim: Jaap van Lagen (37, NL) is mounting a late attack on the final weekend of the 2014 ADAC GT Masters season at Hockenheim. Currently placed second in the title chase and breathing down the necks of leading duo Kelvin van der Linde (18, ZA) and René Rast (27, Germany), the Dutchman and his GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport co-driver Christian Engelhart (27, Germany) have booked promising grid positions for their Porsche 911 in both of the championship-deciding races. Engelhart will start Saturdays’ race from second, while van Lagen lines up third on Sunday. South Africa’s Kelvin van der Linde and René Rast go into the final two races of the campaign from eighth and seventh respectively. The two pole positions for the Hockenheim weekend went to Luca Ludwig (25, Germany) in a BKK MOBIL OIL Zakspeed Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (Saturday) and to 2013 ADAC GT Masters champion Daniel Keilwitz (25, Germany) in a Callaway Competition Corvette (Sunday). “We knew that we had a good car, but our starting positions for the two races have come as something of a surprise,” said a delighted Jaap van Lagen. “I hope this puts the Audi guys under pressure and that our grid position for Race 1 enables us to decide the outcome for ourselves.”

Qualifying 1 for Race 1 on Saturday:

On the final weekend of the 2014 campaign at Hockenheim, Ludwig won a hard-fought qualifying session for Saturday’s race, securing his first pole position in the ADAC GT Masters since 2011. The son of touring car legend Klaus Ludwig duelled for pole position with fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Maro Engel (29, Germany) of ROWE Racing and Sebastian Asch (28, Germany) in a Farnbacher Racing Porsche 911 before eventually prevailing. “I’m incredibly happy to finally be back at the front again, because I’ve been very unlucky in qualifying so far this year,” said Ludwig after claiming his fourth pole position in the ADAC GT Masters. “Everything went well today. My timing was spot on, and I put in a perfect lap. Now it’s up to us tomorrow to make our pole position count.”

Three Porsches will line up behind Ludwig, who is partnered at Hockenheim by his new Latvian team-mate, Harald Schlegelmilch (26). Engelhart qualified second, boosting the title chances of team-mate van Lagen. TONINO Team Herberth’s Robert Renauer (29, Germany) and Asch will start behind Engelhart on Row 2. Max Sandritter (25, Germany) in a PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4 took P5 on the grid from Engel, who was in the lead for a time but ultimately finished sixth.

Championship leader van der Linde will line up in grid position eight. Claudia Hürtgen (43, Germany), who still has a mathematical chance of nicking the title, will be in grid position twelve in her PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4. The qualifying session was temporarily suspended for 45 minutes after Fabian Hamprecht (19, Germany) crashed out in a Prosperia C Abt Racing Audi R8. Hamprecht emerged from the car uninjured but will not now be competing in either of the two races. Christer Jöns (27, Germany) will replace him as co-driver to Denmark’s Nicki Thiim (25).

Qualifying 2 for Race 2 on Sunday:

Keilwitz in the Corvette was unbeatable in qualifying for the last ADAC GT Masters race of 2014. The winner of five races this season came out on top right at the beginning of the session, setting a new qualifying record for the ADAC GT Masters at Hockenheim. None of the other competitors was subsequently able to beat the lap time posted by Keilwitz.

“I simply got everything right in qualifying,” said Keilwitz. “As we saw out there, posting a perfect lap was no easy task. I had no-one in front of me and managed things well. Now I hope we can end the season with another victory.”

The Corvette driver shares the front row of the grid in Sunday’s race with Callaway Competition team-mate Andreas Simonsen (24) from Sweden. Van Lagen in the Porsche and Austria’s Dominik Baumann (21) in a PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4 head up the second row. Italy’s Diego Alessi (42) in a Callaway Competition Corvette is in fifth place on the grid alongside sixth-placed Maximilian Götz (28, Germany) of HTP Motorsport in the quickest of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGs. Championship leader Rast starts from grid position seven.

Result: Qualifying 1 (Top Five):

1. Luca Ludwig (BKK MOBIL OIL Zakspeed, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3), 01:40.098 mins
2. Christian Engelhart (GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3), +0.295 sec
3. Robert Renauer (TONINO Team Herberth, Porsche 911 GT3 R), +0.302 sec
4. Sebastian Asch (Farnbacher Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R), +0.408 sec
5. Max Sandritter (PIXUM Team Schubert, BMW Z4 GT3), +0.480 sec

Result: Qualifying 2 (Top Five):

1. Daniel Keilwitz (Callaway Competition, Corvette Z06.R GT3), 01:39.475 mins
2. Andreas Simonsen (Callaway Competition, Corvette Z06.R GT3), +0.398 sec
3. Jaap van Lagen (GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), +0.403 sec
4. Dominik Baumann (PIXUM Team Schubert, BMW Z4 GT3), +0.414 sec
5. Diego Alessi (Callaway Competition, Corvette Z06.R GT3), +0.430 sec