BWT MUCKE MOTORSPORT WILL LINE UP WITH THREE AUDI R8 LMS FOR THEIR SECOND ADAC GT MASTERS SEASON
Bong! Round 2! BWT Mücke Motorsport will soon be starting their second season in the ADAC GT Masters in 2018. The well-established, Berlin-based outfit were really successful in their debut year with third place in the team classification and two wins. As they were in contention to secure wins in both championship right up until the finale in Hockenheim, their goals for 2018 are pretty clear, to fight for the two titles!
Taking a quick look in BWT Mücke Motorsport’s garage, you will see that they now have three Audi R8 LMS racing cars after taking the decision to focus all their fire power on the four rings from Ingolstadt in future so as to be a greater more effective force.
Top-class drivers will take their places in the cockpits of the three supercars in order to make the team’s title ambitions a reality. With 20 years of experience in motorsport, BWT Mücke Motorsport have managed to put together strong combinations of drivers, who are all capable of winning.
A veteran, a high-flyer and a DTM star join forces
Stefan Mücke, the son of Team Principal Peter Mücke, will drive the outfit’s BWT Audi R8 LMS #26. He is multi-talented and lines up as a Ford works driver in the WEC (World Endurance Championship). The 36-year-old driver is also very much an endurance racing specialist, having raced eleven times in the legendary 24-Hours of Le Mans. He proved last year that he can produce top-class results in the ADAC GT Masters’ sprint races as well.
24-year-old Swiss driver Jeffrey Schmidt will race alongside him, putting the pedal to the metal. He contested his debut season in the Super Sports Car League in 2017 and finished runner-up in the junior classification at his first attempt. Displaying a great deal of tenacity and plenty of ambition, he fought hard for his maiden victory in the ADAC GT Masters and was only narrowly beaten at the finish line last year. He achieved four podium finishes in this highly competitive field.
DTM star Jamie Green will be the third racing driver to take the wheel of the car bearing start number 26. The British ace will stand in for regular driver Mücke when he is busy competing in the WEC. Green drove for BWT Mücke Motorsport at the Sachsenring in 2017 and went straight into the Top Five.
First ever champion joined by youngest driver in line-up
None other than Audi Sport driver Christopher Haase will spearhead the attack in the bright-pink BWT Audi R8 LMS #25. He became the first ever ADAC GT Masters champion back in 2007. A quick look at the statistics is enough to realise what fine qualities he possesses. He is in third place on the list of all-time top finishers in the Super Sports Car League with eleven wins and six pole positions. Haase is also really good at endurance racing. Having taken two wins in the legendary 24-Hours at the Nürburgring in 2012/2014, he also won last season’s 24-hour classic at Spa-Francorchamps with Winkelhock. He intends to add to his numerous successes in 2018 at BWT Mücke Motorsport.
Swiss team-mate Ricardo Feller should help him accomplish that. He will be contesting his second season in the ADAC GT Masters in 2018 and could have no better teacher than former champion Haase. Currently the youngest driver in the series, he has already notched up plenty of race kilometres with his new team, BWT Mücke Motorsport, in the 24-Hours of Dubai. Posting fast and consistent lap times, he had the team really fizzing with excitement, and his fine performance played a big part in the team’s sensational fifth place.
Experience buddies up with an unpolished gem
BWT Mücke Motorsport will rely on the services of well-proven drivers in the kfzteile24 Audi R8 LMS #24. Audi Sport driver Markus Winkelhock will again fight for victories and pole positions. The ex Formula 1 and DTM driver won a couple of major GT motor racing events in 2017 with the 24-Hours of the Nürburgring and 24-Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and has improved even further upon an already fine track record. Winkelhock has also been impressive in the ADAC GT Masters, achieving several finishes in the Top Ten in the Audi R8 LMS #24 last season.
His team-mate will be 18-year-old Mike David Ortmann, who did well a couple of times during his debut year in the ADAC GT Masters and achieved a podium in the Junior classification in the season finale. He carried that success over into his maiden outing in a 24-hour race, driving for BWT Mücke Motorsport in the legendary 24-Hours of Dubai in January 2018 where he took a sensational fifth place. Ortmann’s goal in his second season in the Super Sports Car League is to become champion in the Junior classification for drivers under 25 by posting consistently good results.
Comments about the line-up of drivers
Peter Mücke (Team Principal): “We’ve gone for a well-proven combination of experienced drivers and young talents. Markus Winkelhock was one of the mainstays of our team during 2017. With Christopher Haase, we’ve signed another top driver who can certainly give us plenty of support for our second season in the ADAC GT Masters. The pairing of my son Stefan with Jeffrey Schmidt also has the potential to produce wins and podiums. I’m particularly pleased that we will have another two young talents with us again, namely, Mike David Ortmann and Ricardo Feller. BWT Mücke Motorsport have always been very keen to promote young motor racing talent. These two are fast and consistent. They can certainly learn a lot from their more experienced team-mates and make progress.”
Stefan Mücke (Team Management): “We started out as rookies in the ADAC GT Masters in 2017 and have exceeded our own expectations with two wins and third place in the team classification, so we have big ambitions for this year. Our entire team, no matter whether we’re talking about the drivers, engineers, mechanics or managers, can all benefit from our experience from last year and can really get 2018 off to a flying start. I myself am really looking forward to tackling the fresh challenge of fighting for BWT Mücke Motorsport’s maiden win with Audi in the ADAC GT Masters with the Audi R8 LMS. ”
Matthias Kieper (PR & Team Management): “We’re delighted to have three Audi R8 LMS cars in the line-up this season. We wanted to use our resources to the best effect in our second ADAC GT Masters season, so we took the decision to deploy just one make of car in 2018, which should enable us to be more effective and more professional, and of course, that should be reflected in the results. Our six drivers all have the potential to achieve superb results, and I am confident that we will again be among the front-runners in 2018.”
Michael Weiss (Technical Director): “As the saying so aptly puts it: ‘The season is never-ending.’ We spent the winter analysing all that we’d learned from our debut year in the ADAC GT Masters and preparing hard for our second season. The Audi R8 LMS is an extremely reliable car that has the potential to win at practically every circuit on the calendar. Of course, the balance of performance also has an important role to play, and we have to trust that those in charge will make the right decisions and give all the various makes of car an equal chance. We will go through all the procedures within the team once again during the forthcoming tests at Oschersleben and put the finishing touches to the last few details in order to be well prepared for the start of the season.”
BWT Mücke Motorsport’s squad of drivers for the ADAC GT Masters
BWT Mücke Motorsport Audi R8 LMS #26
Stefan Mücke
Jeffrey Schmidt
Jamie Green
BWT Mücke Motorsport Audi R8 LMS #25
Christopher Haase
Ricardo Feller
BWT Mücke Motorsport kfzteile24 Audi R8 LMS #24
Markus Winkelhock
Mike David Ortmann
Source. Mücke Motorsport
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