Excitement right to the end in the sixth race of the ADAC GT Masters season: Benjamin Hites (CHL) and Marco Mapelli (I) rejoiced over their first success of the season at the Nürburgring. In the morning, Mapelli achieved the 50th pole position for Lamborghini in the GT series, which has been in existence since 2007. Now the duo from the GRT Grasser Racing team also managed to score the debut victory for the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 in the ADAC GT Masters. "It just felt incredible after crossing the finish line first. I had to think directly of my family in Chile. But first place was quite a tough job. The BMW behind me was getting closer and closer and I had to give everything. I'm glad it was enough in the end," said Hites. The 24-year-old Hites was the first driver from Chile to take the winner's trophy in the ADAC GT Masters. Sandro Holzem (Polch) and DTM driver Marco Wittmann (Fürth/both Project 1) finished second in the BMW M4 GT3. Finn Gehrsitz (Stuttgart) and Sven Müller (Bingen/both Team Joos by Racemotion) completed the podium in third place. The duo leads the championship with the Porsche 911 GT3 R at the halfway point of the season.
Optimal conditions for a motorsport festival in the Eifel: On Sunday afternoon, the ADAC GT Masters drivers took to the grid in sunshine and 21 degrees Celsius. On the packed grandstands, more than 130,000 visitors to the ADAC Truck Grand Prix enjoyed thrilling racing in the ADAC GT Masters at the weekend. Pole setter Mapelli turned into the first corner of the 3.629 kilometre long traditional circuit in the lead. Mapelli remained wide awake until the mandatory pit stop and didn't let Wittmann's pressure rattle him. After the late driver change, Hites took the first win of the season for Gottfried Grasser's racing team from Austria.
Second place behind the winners went to Holzem and Wittmann. The BMW duo fought a thrilling duel with the crew of the Grasser Lamborghini over the entire 60-minute race distance. "It's great to go home with second place. In the first part of the race I tried to close the gap to the Lamborghini in front of me by setting fast lap times. It wasn't quite enough for victory, but we can live super well with this successful weekend in our first outing in the ADAC GT Masters," analysed two-time DTM champion Wittmann. With third place, Müller as well as ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Gehrsitz scored important points for the championship and they are now in first place in the standings. "After the difficult Saturday, the podium is a real relief for us. I had a fair duel with Marco at the start, that was motorsport at the highest level. It's nice to lead the championship now at the halfway point. In the second half of the season we want to keep scoring points. That will be the key to success until the last race," Müller explained. Fourth place was secured by the two Porsche drivers Tim Zimmermann (Langenargen) and Jaxon Evans (NZ/both Huber Racing).
Fifth place rewarded Schnitzelalm Racing for a strong guest appearance in the ADAC GT Masters. Colin Caresani (NL) and Marcel Marchewicz (Schwetzingen) piloted the Mercedes-AMG GT3 from eighth place into the top five. Eduardo Coseteng (PHL) and Ben Green (GB/both Schubert Motorsport) saw the chequered flag in sixth place in the BMW M4 GT3. Seventh was the Lamborghini duo of Maximilian Paul (Dresden) and Simon Connor Primm (Großschirma/both Paul Motorsport). The Mercedes-AMG drivers and Saturday's winner Salman Owega (Cologne) and Elias Seppänen (FIN) from Landgraf Motorsport were the eighth-best driver pairing. Kim-Luis Schramm (Meuspath) and Neil Verhagen (USA/both FK Performance Motorsport) finished ninth in their BMW M4 GT3. The remaining top ten place went to Alain Valente (CHE) and Ralf Aron (EST) in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the Haupt Racing Team.