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ADAC GT Masters – Oschersleben Report

The 2008 ADAC GT Masters championship got underway last weekend at the Oschersleben circuit. Twenty-four cars were entered for the opening rounds of the German GT3 championship with several familiar names from the FIA GT and FIA GT3 championships.

Race one saw Jürgen von Gartzen in the Matech Ford GT taking the lead shortly after the start of the race. Behind him things went wrong after only four laps. Dennis Retera in a Lamborghini Gallardo had a problem coming on to the finish straight and was collected by Kenneth Heyer. At the front Jörg Bergmeister tried to catch Von Gartzen but only managed to pass him when Von Gartzen made a mistake and went wide at the first corner.

After the mandatory pit stops it was Thomas Mutch who took over from Von Gartzen, while Tim Bergmeister took over from Jörg Bergmeister. Bergmeister had retained the lead for Mühlner Motorsport but his Porsche was soon to be passed by Mutsch. The race went on but despite some attacks throughout the field the lead never changed. After 38 laps it was Mutsch taking the first win of the season, almost three seconds ahead of Bergmeister and the Aston Martin of Thomas Accary and Julien Rodrigues.

On Sunday race two took place and as in the first race it was the Matech Ford GT that took the lead going into turn one. As Mutsch pulled away the cars behind him tried everything to get to the front, leading to some contacts between cars. After the pit stopts the two Matech Ford GTs were still in the lead with Von Gartzen in first and Heyer in second.

Von Gartzen quickly pulled away from Heyer but when he was over three seconds ahead of Heyer the Ford GT suffered a transmission problem. The lead disappeared quickly and Heyer overtook Von Gartzen on lap 34. While Heyer and team mate Marc Hennerici secured their first win in the series the other Ford GT retained its second place, finishing ahead of Jörg and Tim Bergmeister in the Porsche.

Race 1 – Oschersleben – ADAC GT Masters

1. Matech GT Racing (Von Gartzen/Mutsch) – Ford GT – 1:00:15.397
2. Mühlner Motorsport (Bergmeister/Bergmeister) – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S – 1:00:40.307 +24.910
3. Hexis Racing (Rodrigues/Accary) – Aston Martin DBRS9 – 1:00:56.313 +40.916

Race 2 – Oschersleben – ADAC GT Masters

1. Matech GT Racing (Hennerici/Heyer) – Ford GT – 1:00:12.620
2. Matech GT Racing (Von Gartzen/Mutsch) – Ford GT – 1:00:12.959 +0.339
3. Mühlner Motorsport (Bergmeister/Bergmeister) – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S – 1:00:39.724 +27.104