Nürburgring: Julien Apothéloz already wins 🎥
AND GT3 PODIUM FOR "NIDI" At the Nürburgring, Julien Apothéloz took a race win on his first GT4 weekend. In the ADAC GT Masters, defending champion Patric Niederhauser took his first podium of the season. The highlights of the second GT4 race, which ended prematurely due to an accident when rain set in, show how Julien Apothéloz and his partner's victory was well deserved. Of course, [...]
The highlights of the second GT4 race, which ended prematurely due to an accident when rain set in, show how the victory of Julien Apothéloz and his partner was deserved.
Of course, the stakes are much higher in the ADAC GT Masters than in the ADAC GT4 Germany - but here, too, no gifts are given. That's why the victory of Julien Apothéloz and his German partner Luca-Sandro Trefz is highly regarded. Especially as they form the youngest pairing in this championship and proved their speed throughout the weekend.
A perfect Sunday
For the first race, the 19-year-old Zurich native qualified the Mercedes-AMG GT4 from Mann-Filter Team HTP Winward for the front row of the grid. However, only fifth place resulted in the almost one-hour race, in which the Swiss turned the fastest lap in the field of 20 GT4 sports cars.
On Sunday, the duo's speed and the team's strategy were a perfect match.
Julien Apothéloz: "We knew from Saturday that there was more in it for us. Because the first three from the previous day had to stay in the pits a few seconds longer under the regulations, I was just ahead after taking over the car. After that, I gradually extended my lead and would also have won if the race had gone the full distance."
Second victory for the Young Driver of 2018
For the overall winner of the 2018 Young Driver Challenge, this meant his second victory in motor racing. In 2019, he took class victory at the 24 Hours of Barcelona with Topcar Sport in a Cupra TCR.
Julien also finished on the podium for the first time last year in the TCR Germany at the ADAC GT Masters at the Nürburgring - seems to be a good place for him.
The Swiss-flagged Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport team took second place in both GT4 races with the Schrey/Piana duo in the BMW M4.
Podium and bad luck for Niederhauser
The best Swiss in the super sports car league was Patric Niederhauser. In Saturday's race, the man from Berne finished third with Kelvin van der Linde on an Audi R8, but only tenth on Sunday despite the South African's pole position.
Thanks to the early change, the two defending champions took over first place after the stops but were only able to enjoy this position for a short time. A subsequent drive-through penalty for an offense during the pit stop threw the Audi duo far back.
The highlights of race 2 reveal why Niederhauser/van der Linde received a penalty and victory went to a Porsche team as a result.
Ineichen, Schmidt and de Silvestro narrowly miss the podium
In fourth place, Rolf Ineichen with partner Mirko Bortolotti on Audi was the best-ranked Swiss in the second race, just ahead of Jeffrey Schmidt and Markus Pommer. The man from Liestal had qualified the Callaway Corvette in excellent third place and had therefore hoped for more.
Simona de Silvestro was also on course for a podium finish on Saturday after her partner Klaus Bachler in the Team Bernhard Porsche had done good groundwork. However, she had to give up third place in the final session.
Results ADAC GT4 Nürburgring Race 1 Results ADAC GT4 Nürburgring Race 2 Results ADAC GT Masters Nürburgring Race 1 Results ADAC GT Masters Nürburgring Race 2 Stand ADAC GT Masters after 4 races
