Keilwitz puts Corvette in pole position in ADAC GT Masters at Red Bull Ring

• Corvette, Audi, Bentley and BMW on top two rows of grid
• SPORT1 will broadcast the second race live at 12 noon today

Spielberg: Championship leader Daniel Keilwitz (26, DEU, Callaway Competition) took pole position for the second race of the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring. Laurens Vanthoor (25, B, kfzteile24 APR Motorsport) in the Audi R8 qualified on the front row next to the Corvette C7. Racing in the second qualifying session was extremely competitive. Just one second covered the top 23 cars. Fans everywhere watching on television must remember to tune in earlier today, as SPORT1 will commence broadcasting the eighth race of the season live on free-to-air TV at 12 noon (race start: 12:15).

“Up until this point, it looks like this is going to be our weekend,” said Keilwitz after securing his sixth pole position in the ADAC GT Masters. “Being in front is obviously always a big advantage. However, times in qualifying were extremely tightly bunched. Now we have to see how the race goes. We need to get safely through the first few corners, drive a clean race without mistakes and then our chances of a top finish are certain. But the other teams want to win too.”

Teams and drivers took part in the second qualifying to decide the starting grid for the second race in balmy temperatures of 25 degrees early this Sunday morning. Daniel Abt (23, DEU, Bentley Team ABT) hung on to best time until the end of the 20-minute session when two drivers overtook his Bentley on their final timed laps. Daniel Keilwitz, who took over the lead in the ADAC GT Masters standings in Saturday’s race along with Callaway teammate Jules Gounon (21, F) posted the fastest lap with a time of 1:27.949 minutes.

Laurens Vanthoor will start from P2 on the grid with Florian Stoll in the Audi R8 after achieving the best grid position so far this season for his team, kfzteile24 APR Motorsport. In the end, the Bentley of Daniel Abt & Jordan Pepper (19, ZA) recorded the third-fastest time. BMW DTM driver António Félix da Costa (24, P, Schubert Motorsport) had a strong showing. In his very first qualifying in the ADAC GT Masters, the Portuguese driver immediately qualified his BMW M6 in P4. Coming home behind him, the Corvette of Dominik Schwager (39, DEU, Callaway Competition), the Lamborghini of Christian Engelhart (29, DEU, GRT Grasser Racing Team) and the Mercedes-AMG of defending champion Luca Ludwig (27th, DEU AMG Team Zakspeed) ensured that the front of the grid is not dominated by just one make of car.

Fans wishing to experience the ADAC GT Masters live at the racetrack can purchase tickets for all fixtures for the price of 20 euros, which includes access to the paddock, from www.adac.de/motorsport.