When the German GT Championship lines up this weekend (10th to 12th September), it heralds the start of an exciting autumn: not only will the halfway leader be determined at the DEKRA Lausitzring, but the teams and drivers will also be jostling for position in what promises to be a thrilling title race. The situation heading to the shortest track on the calendar could hardly be more intriguing: the top six in the championship – super sports cars from no fewer than six different manufacturers – are separated by just 15 points. Fans can watch the ADAC GT Masters live at the circuit again and, for the first time since 2019, will be permitted in the paddock, on the pit walk and at the autograph session again.
Successful GT racer Alex MacDowall encountered his most frustrating outing of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season at the Nurburgring in Germany on Sunday, 5th September, where grip and handling issues led to an eighth place finish in the Silver Cup.
GRT Grasser Racing Team announced their return from the summer break by throwing down the gauntlet this weekend at the Nürburgring. Clemens Schmid, Kikko Galbiati and Tim Zimmermann fought for top positions in the high-calibre GT3 series right from the start of this fourth round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, but after securing pole position in the Silver Cup, the team did not get the top result that was so well deserved. Their Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO was knocked out of the race in an unfortunate collision just before the chequered flag.
At the start of the second half of the DTM season at the Red Bull Ring, Mercedes-AMG further extended his lead in the manufacturers’ standings. With three podium results by Maximilian Götz and Philip Ellis a total of eighth further top ten results, Mercedes-AMG was the most successful manufacturer at the Austrian Grand Prix circuit. The performance and sports car brand continued its successful weekend in the GT World Challenge Europe. At the Nürburgring, the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP car and the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT entry finished in second and third place.
Oman Racing’s Ahmad Al Harthy, Giacomo Petrobelli and Maxime Martin combined to deliver a top five Pro-Am finish at Germany’s Nurburgring on Sunday, 5th September, during the squad’s eagerly awaited return to the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup.
The 5th DTM weekend brought a rollercoaster of emotions for the Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke Motorsport team at the Austrian Red Bull Ring. In the 9th round of the DTM season on Saturday, a time penalty of five seconds relegated Maximilian Buhk to 12th place in his #18 Mercedes-AMG GT3, which is equipped with the Space Drive steer-by-wire system from Schaeffler Paravan and does not require any mechanical connection at all between the steering unit and the steering gearbox. With 9th place in Sunday’s race, the 28-year-old AMG driver was then finally able to score DTM points again. However, bad luck in qualifying and minor collisions on the track once again cost the Mercedes-AMG GT3 several ranks.
Two wins out of two: ahead of the weekend, no one could have imagined a better result for Liam Lawson and the 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Red Bull AF Corse. In the second race, despite 25kg ballast, the nineteen-year-old New Zealander held off Marco Wittmann’s attacks and was first over the finish line with the help of the AF Corse team’s quick pit stop. After a challenging qualifying session, Albon was unlucky to see a potential podium slip away due to a puncture.
Max Weering and Loris Spinelli survived a pit-stop time penalty to give Johan Kraan Motorsports its second Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe victory of the weekend at the Nürburgring – and third of the 2021 season – beating Leipert Motorsport’s Sebastian Balthasar and Seb Morris with a final-lap overtake. The #61 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo, in the hands of Spinelli, then opened up a margin of 1.5 seconds to complete the clean sweep in Germany.
Orange1 FFF Racing secured a richly deserved overall win in today’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup contest at the Nürburgring, surviving an action-packed final hour after dominating the opening two stints with its #63 Lamborghini
United Autosports drivers Dean Macdonald and Gus Bowers took their first GT4 European Series victory of 2021 in the second race at a sunny Nürburgring. The British team’s #32 McLaren won from pole position, with the team also sealing the Teams’ title with just one race weekend to go.
United Autosports have secured the GT4 European Series Silver Team’s Championship win at Nurburgring today after scoring a 1-2 finish in the second race of the weekend.
McLaren Factory Driver Ollie Wilkinson has taken the difficult decision to sit out today’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS round at the Nürburgring, Germany, due to injuries he sustained at Brands Hatch last weekend.
Ahmad Al Harthy and Oman Racing made a sparkling return to action in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup at Germany’s Nurburgring on Saturday, 4th September, with the second fastest time in the Pro-Am class during pre-qualifying.
Johan Kraan Motorsports’ Max Weering and Loris Spinelli claimed a dominant lights-to-flag victory in the opening Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe race of the weekend at the Nürburgring. The #61 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo led from pole position thanks to a quite brilliant first stint from Spinelli, with Weering moving firmly back into title contention after maintaining the advantage after the mandatory pit-stop cycle.
At the end of a spectacular race full of duels and excitement, Liam Lawson claimed his second DTM win of the season while teammate Alex Albon finished fourth in the 55-minute race at the Red Bull Ring.
With the 2021 campaign approaching its conclusion on both sides of the Atlantic, calendars have been finalised for Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS, the GT4 European Series and the quartet of championships that run under the SRO America banner.
Team Zakspeed (Mercedes-AMG), Saintéloc Racing (Audi) and Team Fullmotorsport (Audi) each claimed victory in today’s opening GT4 European Series race at the Nürburgring.
Christopher Mies (32/Düsseldorf) was crowned ADAC GT Masters champion in 2016 and still has a chance of claiming another title this season. Approaching the fourth of seven race weekends in the German GT Championship at the Lausitzring (10th–12th September), he is in third place in the standings with his team-mate Ricardo Feller (21/CH). The German-Swiss duo is competing in an Audi R8 LMS from Montaplast by Land-Motorsport. Christopher Mies is in his sixth straight season in the ADAC GT Masters with the racing team from the Westerwald.
Less than a week after his accident at Brands Hatch, Ollie Wilkinson will be back in action for the next round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup at the Nürburgring, thanks to an outstanding effort by JOTA to rebuild the team’s McLaren 720S GT3.