Reports

ADAC GT Masters - Assen Report

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

The TT Circuit in Assen hosted round four of the ADAC GT Masters this weekend. It was the first time ever that the series visited the circuit, situated in the Northern part of The Netherlands. Fourteen cars were entered for this weekend and they were all up for a rather wet weekend.

On Friday two free practice sessions took place in ‘less wet’ conditions. In the first of the two sessions it was a Lamborghini Gallardo 1-2 with the Christopher Haase/Albert von Thurn und Taxis driven Lamborghini finishing the session in first place. The first part of the session was hit by rain, but as the session progressed the tracked started to dry and times dropped. Haase and Von Thurn und Taxis eventually set a 1:50.205. In the second qualifying the Team Flatex-Reiter car was beaten by the #51 Hexis Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Philippe Dumas and Tobias Blätterer. On a rather dry track the French Aston set a 1:42.470, almost two tenths quicker than the Lamborghini.

The first qualifying session started on a damp track and even the sun came through briefly. All cars went out on wets but as the session was underway a dry line quickly started to show around the track and some teams switched to slicks. This turned out to be the wrong choice as in some places there were still patches of water around the track and with only a few minutes remaing the rain returned to Assen. As the chequered flag came out the #1 Team Flatex-Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of Albert von Thurn & Taxis was quickest in 1:59.083. Exactly half a second slower was the #31 MM Racing Corvette Z.06 GT3 in second place, while the #5 Matech GT Racing Ford GT of Kenneth Heyer was third fastest, almost a second behind the Lamborghini.

In between the first and the second session the rain fell heavily, but as the cars made their way to the end of the pitlane the conditions improved a bit. The track was still wet however and with rain continuously falling the pole time of the first session was not improved. Christopher Haase secured Team Flatex-Reiter’s second pole position in the final moments as he beat Marc Hennerici’s (#5 Matech GT Racing Ford GT) provisional pole after the timer already showed the session was over. On his final lap he managed to set a 2:00.475. Marc Hennerici’s 2:00.512 was enough for second place on the grid. Third fastest was the #11 Team Flatex-Reiter Lamborghini with Jan Lammers behind the wheel in 2:01.703.

Just before the start on Saturday afternoon the rain returned to the track and while it was still some drizzle as the cars were on their way to the grid it quickly became more intensive. As the cars approached the line for the start of the race the spray was already showing and it was clear that conditions to race in were difficult. For Matech GT Racing the race weekend ended in the opening lap of the race. Kenneth Heyer went off in the run from Hoge Heide to the Ramshoek corner (the penultimate corner on the circuit) and slammed the barriers, taking down a part of the catchfence. A destroyed Ford GT was the result, Kenneth Heyer went to hospital for a check-up and shortly after the accident the safety car was sent out on the track. The safety car stayed out for nearly half an hour but when the race got underway again the Team Flatex-Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of Haase and Von Thurn und Taxis immediately regained control. Team mates Ritskes and Lammers were the only ones that stayed near the #1 Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, the rest of the field was unable to catch up. Three laps before the end of the race Toni Seiler in the #30 Corvette gave up the fight and immediately Tim Bergmeister (#15 Porsche), Asch (#3 Lamborghini) and Michael Bleekemolen (#16 Porsche). Seiler dropped one spot more as Adam Lacko (#52 Corvette) passed him and Bleekmolen at the end of the race. After one hour the two Lamborghini’s finished in this order with Ritskes/Lammers almost eight seconds behind their team-mates. In third place it was the MM Racing Corvette of Martin Matzke and Jiri Skula. Behind them there was a big battle for eighth place.

Like on Saturday the race on Sunday was a wet one. Fortunately there were nog big accidents this time and the safety car could stay in the pit this time. Christopher Haase immediately pulled away from the rest of the field with only Lammers able to stay close, Adam Lacko was a distant third. Behind the top three the #15 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche, #31 MM Racing Corvette and #51 Hexis Racing Aston Martin were involved in a big fight, which ended after seven laps when the Corvette and the Aston had a coming together. After being pulled from the gravel the Corvette was able to rejoin, although in last place, while the Aston Martin retired a few laps later. With the rain still coming down the teams made their mandatory pit stops just after the half way point of the race. Von Thurn und Taxis took over from Haase, handing over the lead to Lammers but when the Dutchman handed over his car to team-mate Ritskes the German driver quickly regained the lead of the race. Von Thurn und Taxis used the rest of the race to increase his lead. Behind him the Mühlner Porsche of Ronald van Laar went off, damaging the front of his car. The damage meant a retirement soon after. Team mate Frank Stippler in the #15 Porsche meanwhile rapidly closed in on the MM Racing Corvette of Stepan Vojtech. With the clock counting down towards zero the pressure on the Czech Corvette driver increased but all Stippler could hope for was a mistake, which never came. Albert von Thurn und Taxis crossed the line in first place after one hour of racing 55 seconds ahead of Marius Ritskes, making it a 1-2 finish for Team Flatex-Reiter. It also meant the first double win of a team this year, after seven different winners in seven races. Ten seconds behind Ritskes it was Vojtech who crossed the line in third place.

Apart from this report we also managed to bring you a gallery of the ADAC GT Masters race weekend at Assen. The next round will take place at the Nürburgring, where the series will join the Le Mans Series for an action-packed weekend.