ADAC GT Masters: First Swiss successes

All's well that ends well: For Rolf Ineichen, the opening round of the ADAC GT Masters at Oschersleben ended on a conciliatory note after the Lucerne native had vehemently put his Lamborghini Huracan into the crash barriers in free practice.

The mechanics of GRT Grasser Racing repaired the Lambo so well that Ineichen's partner Christian Engelhart was able to put it on pole position for the second race. After the German had led for a long time, he still managed to finish second overall.

The fast Swiss gentleman driver was powerless against his furious teammate and professional Mirko Bortolotti, but nevertheless happy about what he had achieved.

Rolf Ineichen: "Christian created a good starting position for us. But much more important was that the team put the car back in working order after the accident. A huge thank you to everyone. The result is a well-deserved reward for all the hard work. The car was top, in the end I had to manage the tires a bit."

Good team debut for Ricardo Feller, quiet disappointment for Jeffrey Schmidt
With places 8 and 10, Nikolaj Rogivue and Ricardo Feller also made it into the top ten with their new Audi teams. At the same time, they were also able to place themselves on the podium as second and third in the Junior classification.

For the 17-year-old Feller, it was the first ever points win in the GT Masters with professional partner Christopher Haaase after they had fought their way up from 20th on the grid to P11 the previous day. "Ricardo really deserves this podium because he is incredibly fast," said factory driver Haase, praising his young partner.

The second Swiss driver for BWT Mücke Motorsport fell short of his high expectations. Jeffrey Schmidt, 2017 runner-up in the Juniors (drivers under 25), qualified a good tenth in the class field of 35 GT3 sports cars on Saturday. A misunderstanding during the pit stop and a time loss of around three seconds thwarted a possible fifth place.

Schmidt and GT rookie Jamie Green (otherwise active in the DTM) were also on their way to a good result in the second race. When the Basel native took over the Audi R8, the pit stop system failed, whereupon the team fell short of the mandatory minimum time by a few tenths of a second. This resulted in a pit stop penalty.

Teaching money for Giorgio Maggi
The other Swiss drivers did not score any points. After two grid positions at the back of the field, Rahel Frey and Philip Geipel (D) only finished 28th and 21st in the Yaco Racing Audi. Two 30th-place finishes with another Audi show Remo Lips how high the grapes hang even for a good amateur driver.

Giorgio Maggi also learned the hard way on his debut in the GT Masters. In the first race, he took over the new Honda NSX GT3 from Christopher Dreyspring (D) in a good 16th position, but slid into the gravel in a duel with a competitor. For the second race, the driver from Nidwald only qualified his car for 35th and last place on the grid. In the race, the duo worked their way up to 24th place.

Triumph in the first GT3 race
The best performance of all the rookies came from someone who also speaks Swiss German - only few know this. Philip Ellis, who grew up in the canton of Zug and is a student in Lucerne (but is now concentrating on his racing career for two years), has always driven for his native England and entered the GT Masters with Phoenix Racing after winning the Audi TT Cup in 2017.

His TT competitor of the year before last, Max Hofer (A), amazed the crowd on Saturday on a drying track with the best qualifying time for the first race. The newly formed Phoenix duo turned this into a flawless victory.

Philip Ellis: "We actually don't know ourselves why everything went so perfectly. In any case, no one expected this."

On Sunday, they had to retire after a puncture caused by external factors. Together with Sunday's winners (Bortolotti/Caldarelli), Hofer/Ellis still lead the championship after the first two of 14 rounds. Well done, Philip, keep it up!

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