Oschersleben: Title dreams abruptly fizzled out 🎥
NO GT CHAMPION FROM SWITZERLAND You win and you lose together. After mistakes by their race partners, Patric Niederhauser (GT3) and Julien Apothéloz (GT4) had to bury their title hopes. The summary with the starting accident caused by Kelvin van der Linde. Qualifying only in eleventh place, the latter took too high a risk. At the finale at Oschersleben, both Swiss [...]
The summary with the starting accident triggered by Kelvin van der Linde. Qualifying only in eleventh place, he took too high a risk.
At the finale in Oschersleben, both Swiss drivers and their race partners lost their championship leads after Saturday's race. For the defending champions Patric Niederhauer and Kelvin van der Linde, there was not even a podium left in the ADAC GT Masters 2020 in the end, while for Julien Apothéloz and Luci Trefz at least third place overall still resulted in the ADAC GT4 Germany.
Aftermath of the Lausitzring
The change at the top of the standings in the "league of super sports cars" was already announced on Saturday. Patric Niederhauser was third fastest in qualifying with the Audi R8 LMS in dry but cold conditions but had to retire from the grid as a result of a misdemeanor at Lausitz (AutoSprintCH reported) five places back in eighth position.
Niederhauser/van der Linde then finished the race in sixth position behind all their direct rivals. With their third win of the season in a Porsche 911 GT3 R, Michael Ammermüller and Christian Engelhart also moved past their previously second-placed brand colleague Robert Renauer into first place in the championship.
Luck for the new, accident of the dethroned champions
The German duo maintained this position on Sunday with a fourth-place finish, although a lot of luck was involved. After the start, the Porsche spun in the first combination of corners after being pushed.
However, the race had to be interrupted after Kelvin van der Linde, of all people, caused a devastating collision with several cars on the starting straight a few seconds earlier. Simona de Silvestro also remained on the track with her Porsche.
The defending champions' final championship dreams were thus abruptly extinguished. With their only zero in the season, they even dropped to a thankless fourth place overall. Niederhauser's partner also received a fine of 10,000 euros, payable within 48 hours.
Three Swiss on the final podium
The 14th and final race win in the 2020 ADAC GT Masters went to Philip Ellis and Raffaele Marciello in a Mercedes-AMG after they had already finished third the day before.
For Ellis, who lives and grew up in Zug and competes for his fatherland Great Britain, it was the second after 2018, and for Marciello from Ticino, who is Italian in professional racing, it was the first in this championship after capturing the Blancpain GT Series drivers' title in 2019.
With Rolf Ineichen and his partners Mirko Bortolotti on Audi, another Swiss was on the podium in second place.
A gap that was not a gap
Since taking their second win of the season in race six, Julien Apothéloz and Luci Trefz in the Mercedes-AMG GT4 of HTP Winward Motorsport - the same team of Ellis/Marciello - held the championship lead. Although their first pursuers Gabriele Piana/Michael Schrey on BMW M4 drove to victory in Saturday's early evening Race 1, they could have maintained it.
But in the battle for third place, Trefz, who had taken over the Mercedes from the Swiss in fourth place, pushed his opponent in the McLaren out of the race, which resulted in a pit drive-through penalty. There was nothing more than 14th place and two measly points.
Cheers for Martin Kroll
On Sunday, they still managed a good fourth place. But the sixth place of Schrey/Piana was enough for this duo with the BMW M4 GT4 entered by Bonk Motorsport from the Aargauer Hofor boss Martin Kroll to win the title.
Last year, the Swiss-licensed Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport team had won the team classification and, with Marius Zug/Gabriele Piana, took the drivers' honors - now it was the other way around.
Close decision for the championship podium
Because the Danish Porsche duo Möller-Madsen/Kasperlik, leading after the start of the season, took their fourth win of the season after a third place on Saturday, they pushed the Swiss and German down to third place in the championship.
Only five points separated the top three at the end. A ninth instead of only 14th place on Saturday would have been enough for Apothéloz/Trefz to win the title, level on points with the new champions.
Final standings ADAC GT Masters 2020 Final standings ADAC GT4 2020
