Pursuers attack: Zandvoort pole positions for Porsche and BMW

• Pursuers increase pressure on championship leaders Asch and Ludwig
• Austria’s Ragginger and Baumann book first place on Zandvoort grid
• Lamborghini man Catsburg comes out on top in battle of the Dutchmen

Zandvoort/Netherlands. The tension continues to build in the ADAC GT Masters title chase. On the penultimate race weekend of the season at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, championship leaders Sebastian Asch (29, DEU) and Luca Ludwig (26, DEU/both Team Zakspeed) in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG are coming under intense pressure from their two closest pursuers driving a Porsche and a BMW respectively. In qualifying at Zandvoort, the main rivals of the Mercedes-Benz duo for the 2015 title shared out the two pole positions between themselves. First place on the grid for Saturday’s race went to Martin Ragginger (27, AUT) who is supporting the challenge of second-placed Klaus Bachler (24, AUT/both GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport), his co-driver in the Porsche 911. On Sunday, it will be the turn of third-placed Jens Klingmann (25, DEU) and Dominik Baumann (22, AUT/both BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert) in their BMW Z4 to start from the front. “The cooler weather conditions are helping us here,” said Ragginger. “If it stays this way, we have a good chance of converting the pole into a victory.” Ludwig and Asch go into the two races on the former F1 circuit in the North Sea dunes from grid positions three and nine respectively. SPORT1 will be showing both races live and in full. Coverage on Saturday and Sunday commences at 13:00 CEST.

Qualifying 1 for the race on Saturday

Ragginger continued the impressive run of GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport successes in qualifying. The Austrian secured the sixth pole position of the season for the Porsche 911 team. At the start of qualifying, Tomas Enge (38, CZE/Reiter Engineering) took the lead in the Lamborghini Gallardo, but then Ragginger attacked, beating the Czech driver’s fastest time by 0.209 seconds. Championship leader Asch will line up on the second row. Right at the end of the session, the Mercedes-Benz driver muscled his way up from fifth position into P3, consigning the two Audi R8s driven by Rahel Frey (29, CH, YACO Racing) and Florian Stoll (34, DEU, kfzteile24 MS RACING) to grid positions four and five. Fabian Hamprecht (20, DEU, Bentley Team HTP) in the faster of the two Bentley Continentals will start from P6 on the grid.

Qualifying 2 for the race on Sunday

Baumann played his hand right at the start of qualifying for Sunday’s race. The BMW driver went out on track early, secured best time on his second lap and pitted his Z4 on the next lap. The Austrian’s fastest time could not be beaten, although Baumann had a nail-biting moment when Christer Jöns (28, DEU/C.Abt Racing) came within a mere 0.007 seconds of undercutting his time but then had to settle for second place in qualifying. “We did well previously in practice and were fastest twice,” said a delighted Baumann. “We found that same speed again in qualifying. There is a good mix of cars at the head of the field in both races. It is very exciting, and the pole is by no means a guarantee of a win.” There was an interesting internal battle going on between the Reiter Engineering Lamborghinis. ADAC GT Masters newcomer Nick Catsburg (27, NL) took third on the grid to prevail over fellow Dutchman and 2014 ADAC GT Masters runner-up Jaap van Lagen (38, NL/both Reiter Engineering) who qualified fifth behind Marc Basseng (36, DEU/ kfzteile24 MS RACING) in the Audi R8. Bachler in his Porsche 911 starts from sixth, while championship leader Ludwig lines up in ninth.

The leading pair of Asch and Ludwig are determined not to be flustered by the performance of their rivals. “We’re focusing on the race and will attack over the distance,” pledged Asch.

Result: Qualifying 1 for Saturday’s race (Top 6)
1. Martin Ragginger (GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 01:38.895 mins
2. Tomas Enge (Reiter Engineering, Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX), +0.209 sec
3. Sebastian Asch (Team Zakspeed, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3), +0.357 sec
4. Rahel Frey (YACO Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +0.398 sec
5. Florian Stoll (kfzteile24 MS RACING, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +0.455 sec
6. Fabian Hamprecht (Bentley Team HTP, Bentley Continental GT3), +0.669 sec

Result: Qualifying 2 for Sunday’s race (Top 6)
1. Dominik Baumann (BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert, BMW Z4 GT3), 01:38.760 mins
2. Christer Jöns (C.Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +0.007 sec
3. Nick Catsburg (Reiter Engineering, Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX), +0.041 sec
4. Marc Basseng (kfzteile24 MS RACING, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +0.103 sec
5. Jaap van Lagen (Reiter Engineering, Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX), +0.286 sec
6. Klaus Bachler (GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), +0.323 sec