Audi and BMW share out pole positions at Sachsenring

• Close-run qualifying with 16 super sports cars all within one second of each other
• Christopher Mies (Audi) takes P1 spot for Saturday’s race
• Jens Klingmann sets new record for qualifying at Sachsenring to claim pole for Race 2

It’s honours even for Audi and BMW as they each take one of the front grid positions for the two races to be staged on the third weekend of the 2013 ADAC GT Masters at the Sachsenring. Christopher Mies (24, Prosperia C. Abt Racing) driving a Audi R8 topped the timesheet in the first qualifying session for Saturday’s race. Meanwhile, Jens Klingmann (22) from Leimen was staging a fabulous comeback: the BMW Z4 GT3 driver, who is standing in for PIXUM Team Schubert’s Jörg Müller during the Sachsenring weekend, secured the third pole position of his ADAC GT Masters career, having last competed in the series in the 2011 season.

Key facts: Sachsenring

Length of track: 3,645 metres
Weather: 24°C, cloudy
Pole position for Race 1: Christopher Mies (Prosperia C. Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra), 01:21.689 mins
Pole position for Race 2: Jens Klingmann (PIXUM Team Schubert, BMW Z4 GT3), 01:20.782 mins

Thrilling first session with well-matched field

The first qualifying session of the ADAC GT Masters for Saturday’s race on the 3.6km rollercoaster circuit near Chemnitz was a closely fought encounter, with the 16 fastest cars all within just one second of each other. Christopher Mies led the field after the 30-minute timed practice, having used the session to best tactical effect. In the first quarter of an hour, very few cars were out on track, so the Audi driver was able to take advantage of the wide open spaces and set the fastest time. But Mies’s fourth ADAC GT Masters pole position was under threat right through to the end of qualifying. Porsche driver Christian Engelhart gradually whittled away the Audi man’s lead until it was down to a mere 0.017 seconds, but in the end had to settle for second place. “My performance in qualifying was good, but not perfect,” said Mies after his second pole position at the Sachsenring since 2010. “I didn’t manage to combine all my best sector times in one lap, otherwise it could have been even faster. As a launch pad for the race, this is good, but with 16 cars all within a single second of each other, it’s going to be unbelievably close.”

Max Sandritter (24) from Raubling was pleased with his best ever qualifying result in the ADAC GT Masters after booking the third slot on the grid in his PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4. In the last minute of qualifying, Maximilian Buhk (20) in a Polarweiss Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and Frank Kechele (26) in a Lambda Performance Ford GT advanced to claim grid positions four and five respectively.

BMW and Audi carve up first two rows for Race 2 between themselves

The second qualifying session for Sunday’s race was also dominated by BMW and Audi. Jens Klingmann set down his marker right at the beginning of the practice, posting not only a fastest time, but also beating the previous ADAC GT Masters qualifying record at the Sachsenring with a lap of 1:20.782 mins – a full 0.569 seconds quicker than the old record. René Rast (26, Prosperia C. Abt Racing) tried to best Klingmann’s fastest lap in his Audi R8, but came up short by 0.084 seconds. After team-mate Mies’s pole position in the first race and Rast’s own second place on the grid, the Audi pair are in an excellent starting position for the double bill of racing at the Sachsenring.

Klingmann: “I was driving here on YOKOHAMA tyres for the first time today. I was quite wary of them before qualifying, because I didn’t know how they would behave. But my team-mates gave me great advice. I feel I’ve been a worthy stand-in for Jörg Müller today. It wasn’t easy setting the fastest time: I had to break off two attempts early, but everything came good on my third lap.”

The second row on the grid for Race 2 on Sunday is also shared by a BMW and an Audi. Dominik Baumann (20, Austria, PIXUM Team Schubert), winner of the last race in Spa-Francorchamps, is third ahead of former ADAC GT Masters champion Christopher Haase (25) in a Prosperia C. Abt Racing Audi R8. Nicolas Armindo (31) from France qualified in a Geyer & Weinig Porsche 911 for fifth position on the grid – he shares the third row with an Audi driven by former F1 and DTM driver Markus Winkelhock (32, Prosperia C. Abt Racing).

Best qualifying result yet for Rahel Frey in ADAC GT Masters

In the Sachsenring ‘Battle of the Ladies’, former DTM driver Rahel Frey (27, Switzerland) in a Prosperia C. Abt Racing Audi R8 prevailed over Claudia Hürtgen (41) in a PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4. Frey’s P6 is her best qualifying result to date and puts her one place ahead of Hürtgen on the grid.

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.

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.