The ADAC GT Masters got its two-day round of pre-season testing under way with a one-hour session at the Lausitzring. Former champion Christopher Mies (31, GER, Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) set the first best time of the year in the Audi R8 LMS. He was followed on the timesheets by fellow Audi driver, Frank Stippler (45, GER, Team ISR) and Sven Müller (28, GER, Precote Herberth Motorsport) in the Porsche. Starting at 6:30 pm on Saturday, fans have a special treat in store when the online magazine, PS on Air – The Ravenol ADAC GT Masters Talk Show, reports live from the Lausitzring during the second session of the day, bringing all the latest news from pre-season testing.
Mies set his best time of 1.22.639 minutes some twelve minutes or so before the end. The Audi Sport driver, who shares the Audi with Kim-Luis Schramm (22, GER), was the only driver to improve on a time of 1.23 minutes. “The track had little grip and was very slippery initially,” said Mies. “We went through our programme and then had a final outing on fresh tyres, which also serves to explain the almost half-a-second gap on the runner-up, who was much slower.”
Fellow Audi driver, Frank Stippler, came second with a personal best time of 1.23.117 minutes. He shares the drive in the ISR Audi with Filip Salaquarda (36, CZ). Third place went to the best-placed Porsche 911 GT3 R. Former champion, Robert Renauer (35, GER) and Porsche works driver Sven Müller (both Precote Herberth Motorsport), who led the session for a long time and won at the Lausitzring in 2017 during the last ADAC GT Masters race weekend at the track, booked a time of 1.23.150 minutes. “I’m pleased to be getting started,” said Müller. “The long wait is finally over. The session went very well. We were up there with the front-runners throughout. The car is very easy to drive. We want to try out a lot of things this weekend, as we’ve not yet been able to do any testing.”
Fourth place went to Indy Dontje (27, NL) and Maximilian Götz (34, GER, both HTP-Winward Motorsport) in the fastest Mercedes-AMG. Luca Stolz (24, GER) and Maro Engel (34, Monte Carlo, both Toksport WRT) also in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo completed the Top Five.
Three more test sessions for teams contesting the Super Sports Car League will follow on Sunday and last just under 3.5 hours in total. Testing is taking place under strict conditions while following officially approved guidelines to prevent infection developed by the ADAC GT Masters.
Tomczyk stands in for an injured Klingmann
BMW works driver Martin Tomczyk (38, GER) took out the BMW M6 GT3 fielded by MRS GT Racing. The former DTM champion stood in for regular driver Jens Klingmann (29, GER), who has broken both arms in an accident on his bike.
Source. AD AC GT Masters
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