Start-to-finish victory for Corvette duo Keilwitz & Alessi

• Daniel Keilwitz and Diego Alessi win second race at Oschersleben
• Well-matched field with six different marques finishing in Top Eight
• Porsche driver René Bourdeaux wins Gentleman classification

Intense duelling on a sunny day: A brilliant drive by 2012 runners-up Diego Alessi (40, Italy) and Daniel Keilwitz (23, Germany / Callaway Competition) thrilled the crowd of 14,500 as the Corvette pairing secured a hard-fought victory in the second race of the new ADAC GT Masters season on Sunday. The Dutch partnership of Jeroen den Boer (25) and Simon Knap (24 / DB Motorsport) finished second in their BMW Z4 GT3, 3.6 seconds behind. Mario Farnbacher (20, Germany) und Philipp Frommenwiler (23, Switzerland / Farnbacher Racing) in a Porsche 911 claimed third spot and were thus the only duo to make two podium appearances this weekend. “This victory is a belated birthday gift for our team principal Ernst Wöhr who turned 60 ten days ago,” said a jubilant Alessi after recording the fourth win of his ADAC GT Masters career.

Key facts, etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Race 2

Length of track: 3.69km
Weather: 11°C, sunny
Pole position in Race 2: Maximilian Götz (Polarweiss Racing, Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) 01:27.507 mins
Winners of Race 2: Diego Alessi / Daniel Keilwitz (Callaway Competition, Corvette Z06.R GT3)
Fastest race lap: Maximilian Götz (Polarweiss Racing, Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3) 01:28.770 mins

Defending champion Götz in pursuit of Keilwitz

In the first half of the race, the crowd were enthralled by an exciting contest between defending champion Maximilian Götz (27, Polarweiss Racing) in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and Daniel Keilwitz in a Corvette. Keilwitz got past Götz on the first corner, but the Mercedes man wasn’t going to give up. He pursued the Corvette around the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben for the whole of the 30-minute stint, with no more than a half second between them at any time. After Götz vacated the cockpit for co-driver Maximilian Buhk (20), however, the duel came to an abrupt end as the Mercedes pairing were hit with a stop-and-go penalty for having cut the pit stop one second short of the minimum time.
The task of shadowing the leading Corvette now fell to den Boer and Knap in their BMW Z4, but Alessi controlled the gap to the Dutchmen right through the end of the race to secure the start-to-finish victory.

Daniel Keilwitz: “I was involved in a real battle with Götz at the start of the race – all perfectly fair racing – but I had to work hard and exploit all the strengths of the Corvette to stay ahead of him. The penalty incurred by the Mercedes-Benz duo of Götz and Buhk subsequently made our race a little easier.” Alessi also conceded that the penalty had played a decisive role in their success: “That was certainly the key to victory. In the second half of the race I was under less pressure. In the dry today, our Corvette was perfect, whereas the rain yesterday made things very difficult for us. So let’s hope for dry conditions in all the races to come.”

Meanwhile, the competition for third place was equally intense. Five drivers led by ADAC GT Masters newcomer Philip Frommenwiler (23, Switzerland / Farnbacher Racing) were scrapping for the remaining podium spot. Frommenwiler held the pursuing pack at bay until the chequered flag and secured third place ahead of the Tonino-Herberth Motorsport Porsche driven by Robert Renauer (28, Germany) and Martin Ragginger (25, Austria) and the Polarweiss Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG driven by Andreas Simonsen ( 23) from Sweden and Sergei Afanasiev (25) from Russia.

“Over the past two days, we have seen some great motor racing and a season opener, the likes of which we have come to expect,” said ADAC Sports President Hermann Tomczyk. “The field in the ADAC GT Masters is very good this year in terms of quality and showed itself to be very evenly matched at Oschersleben. We can look forward to an exciting season.”

First points for Jörg Müller in the ADAC GT Masters

Following a retirement in the first race, sports car ace Jörg Müller (43) and PIXUM Schubert team-mate Max Sandritter (24) notched up their first points of the season on Sunday. The two of them finished just inside the Top Ten, edging out former DTM drivers Rahel Frey (27) from Switzerland and Markus Winkelhock (32) in a Prosperia C Abt Audi R8. The winners of the first race on Saturday, René Rast (26) and Christopher Mies (23), also driving a Prosperia C Abt Audi R8 had to retire after colliding with another car.

Thrilling battle of the Porsches in Gentleman class

The contest for the Gentlemen (amateurs) trophy went right to the finish line. René Bourdeaux (38, Tonino-Lipponen Motorsport) from Munich eventually prevailed over fellow Porsche 911 driver Christina Nielsen (21, Farnbacher Racing) from Denmark by a mere car’s length. Third place went to Swiss driver Toni Seiler (55) in a Callaway Competition Corvette.

The 2013 ADAC GT Masters will once again be contested over 16 rounds on eight race weekends throughout the year. All 16 races of the ADAC GT Masters will be shown on free-to-air TV station kabel eins. The live broadcasts to audiences in Germany, Austria and Switzerland commence at 12 noon on both the Saturday and the Sunday. The Super Sports Car League is being hosted by two new venues this time: the Formula 1 circuit at Spa-Francorchamps and the Slovakia Ring in Slovakia. The curtain-raiser for the seventh season of the ADAC GT Masters will be staged on the weekend of 26th - 28th April at the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

Tickets for all ADAC GT Masters races start at €20 and can be purchased online at www.adac.de, from any ADAC branch office, online at www.eventim.de or from one of the more than 20,000 Eventim outlets throughout Europe.

Results from Race 2

1. Diego Alessi / Daniel Keilwitz (Callaway Competition, Corvette Z06.R GT3), 40 laps
2. Jeroen den Boer / Simon Knap (DB Motorsport, BMW Z4 GT3), +3.684 sec
3. Mario Farnbacher / Philipp Frommenwiler (Farnbacher Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R), +11.216 sec
4. Robert Renauer / Martin Ragginger (Tonino/Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), +11.943 sec
5. Andreas Simonsen / Sergei Afanasiev (Polarweiss Racing, Mercedes Benz SLS AMG), +13.763 sec
6. Christer Jöns / Christian Mamerow (Prosperia C. Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +14.645 sec