The title defence for Robert Renauer (34, GER) has got off to a great start. Last year’s champion and his new co-driver Thomas Preining (20, AUT, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) top the table after their victory in the Sunday race of the ADAC GT Masters opening weekend at Oschersleben. The Porsche pairing won the second of the 14 races to be contested this season ahead of runners-up Ricardo Feller (18, CH) and Dries Vanthoor (21, BEL, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) in an Audi and third-placed Rolf Ineichen (40, CH) and Franck Perera (34, FRA, both Orange1 by GRT Grasser) in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. “Definitely a very good curtain-raiser weekend,” said a delighted Renauer. “The season could not have started much better for us.”
Key facts, Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Oschersleben, Round 2 of 14
Length of track: 3,667 metres
Weather: 15°C, slightly cloudy
Pole Position: Mirko Bortolotti (Orange1 by GRT Grasser, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo), 1:37.075 mins
Winners: Robert Renauer and Thomas Preining (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R)
Fastest race lap: Christopher Haase (BWT Mücke Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS), 1:25.115 mins
Spectators over the weekend: 25,000+
Pole-sitter retains lead at start
Robert Renauer and Thomas Preining laid the foundations for their victory at the start when Preining, who had been on the second row, overtook fellow Porsche driver Matteo Cairoli (22, ITA, Küs Team75 Bernhard) to move up into second place. Meanwhile, pole-sitter Mirko Bortolotti (29, ITA, Orange1 by GRT Grasser) in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo hung on to the lead. The Lambo and the two 911s were bunched close together as they lapped the circuit but were unable to pull out much of a gap on the rest of the field. Just 0.6 seconds covered the Top Three as they came in for the mandatory pit stops towards the middle of the race.
Pit stops result in changes in positions up front
While the change of drivers at Herberth from Thomas Preining to Robert Renauer went smoothly, enabling them to take the lead, their rivals suffered setbacks. Race leader Bortolotti had to change a damaged tyre, and partner Christian Engelhart (32, GER) was subsequently handed a drive-through penalty for a pit stop that was too short. The alleged infringement later turned out to be a timekeeping error. However, the penalty could not be withdrawn, as it had already been served by the time the mistake was discovered. Adrien de Leener (29, BEL), who is co-driver to Matteo Cairoli, incurred a five-second penalty on his pit stop as the Italian had strayed from the correct grid position at the start. They ultimately finished seventh.
At the front, Renauer had a battle on his hands at the start of the second stint with Audi driver Ricardo Feller who had taken over from Dries Vanthoor. In the final stages, however, defending champion Renauer drew away slightly and was first over the line with a lead of 1.5 seconds.
Pirelli Trophy winner Rolf Ineichen and Franck Perera finished third behind Feller, winner in the Pirelli Junior classification, and Vanthoor. The Lamborghini pairing benefited from good timing for their pit stop, enabling them to move up three positions.
Fourth place went to Patric Niederhauser (27, CH) and Kelvin van der Linde (22, ZA, both HCB-Rutronik Racing) in another Audi after their second-place finish yesterday. Lamborghini drivers Michele Beretta (24, ITA) and Marco Mapelli (31, ITA, both Orange1 by GRT Grasser) took P5 ahead of Nicolai Sylvest (21, DK) and Jens Klingmann (28, GER, both MRS GT-Racing), who had battled their way up the field eight places from P14 in their BMW M6 GT3.
De Leener and Cairoli took the chequered flag in seventh followed by Mercedes drivers Indy Dontje (26, NL) and Maximilian Götz (33, GER, both Mann-Filter Team HTP) in eighth. Completing the Top Ten were two Audi pairings: Elia Erhart (30, GER) and Pierre Kaffer (42, GER, both EFP by Tece) in ninth and Mike David Ortmann (19, GER) and Markus Winkelhock (38, GER, both BWT Mücke Motorsport) in tenth.
Comments from the winners:
Robert Renauer (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R): “After the two free practice sessions, I would never have expected this. So thanks are due to my team, and many thanks also to my partner Thomas Preining, who has really settled in very well and delivered a great performance all weekend. But of course, we still have work ahead of us. The track at Most was very good for us in the previous year, so we’re obviously hoping that we’ll be up there on the podium twice again like we were last time.”
Thomas Preining (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R): “I had obviously been hoping for a debut in the ADAC GT Masters as good as this, but I didn’t really expect it. This morning was the first time I’ve driven a Porsche in a wet qualifying session, but it went superbly well with third place. My stint was excellent, and the car was great. Mirko Bortolotti did a magnificent job at the front and wasn’t making any mistakes. I could have tried something, but only by taking risks, and on the first race weekend of the season, it’s important just to score points. Robert then took the lead after the pit stop and sealed the victory. I am mega happy.”
Source. ADAC GT Masters
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