The stage is set for a thriller in the ADAC GT Masters title race at the Salzburgring. The top three duos in the table occupy the first three places on the starting grid for Sunday’s race. BMW driver Leyton Fourie (19/RSA/FK Performance Motorsport) secured pole position. The racer currently second in the championship set an unbeatable time of 1:17.198 minutes.
“I think that lap was the best I have ever put together in my life as a racing driver. Particularly at this circuit, where the times are so close. I am so happy,” said a beaming Fourie after claiming his first pole in the ADAC GT Masters. “The mechanics and engineers have delivered a perfect rocket today. It is almost unreal.”
Joining him on the front row of the grid is Salman Owega (20/Cologne/Haupt Racing Team). When qualifying was red flagged with just a few minutes of the session remaining, the championship leader was down in tenth place. However, Owega took full advantage of the remaining three minutes after the restart and landed his Ford Mustang GT3 in second place, 0.169 seconds behind the pole time. Simon Birch (18/DNK/Razoon – more than racing) ensured the three-way battle at the top of the championship is mirrored on the starting grid. His Porsche 911 GT3 R was 0.241 seconds slower than Fourie’s BMW.
Yesterday’s runner-up Jannes Fittje (26/Langenhain/SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm) starts the second endurance race at the Salzburgring from fourth place, having ended qualifying 0.243 seconds behind Fourie. Guest starter Ben Dörr rounded out the top five. He missed out on top spot by 0.255 seconds in his McLaren 720S GT3. The ADAC GT Masters field was evenly matched again, with just 0.8 seconds separating the top ten.
The second endurance race gets underway at 14:50 on Sunday and will be broadcast live on Sport1. The race will also be streamed live on Sport1.de, Joyn, ServusTV ON and YouTube.
