Max Reis (18/Ramstein) in the Ford Mustang GT3 claimed pole position for the first ADAC GT Masters race at the Nürburgring. With a time of 1:25.364 minutes, the Haupt Racing Team driver set the fastest lap – the second pole position of his career. “The performance was great. I was a little bit surprised myself because we had a few difficulties yesterday and driving time was limited in the second practice session,” explained the pole sitter.
David Schumacher to make last-minute start in ADAC GT Masters
The pole position was not the only surprise Reis had; he will be sharing the cockpit with David Schumacher (23/DEU) at short notice. Schumacher raced for HRT in the ADAC GT Masters in 2024 and won both races at the Nürburgring alongside Salman Owega – but back then it was in the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Schumacher is replacing regular driver Niklas Kalus, who sustained an injury on Friday and needs to rest for the remainder of the weekend. “It’s a real shame that my team-mate has injured himself. Obviously, I was also worried, but fortunately I was able to suppress those thoughts in the car,” said Reis. “It will definitely be difficult for David and me to get used to each other so quickly. Fortunately, he has a lot of experience, and he knows the car and the team; hopefully I will be able to benefit from driving with him. In any case, we want to finish on the podium in the race.”
Second place on the grid for the upcoming endurance race went to Reis’ team-mate Salman Owega (20/Cologne). In sunshine with temperatures at around 15 degrees, he was just 66 thousandths of a second slower in his Ford Mustang GT3. Starting from third place is local hero Juliano Holzem from Polch. The 21-year-old Schubert Motorsport driver in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo was just 0.003 seconds faster than Alexander Fach (23/CHE/Fach Auto Tech) in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. Finn Zulauf (20/Königsstein/Paul Motorsport) in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 completes the top 5. The ADAC GT Masters field is highly competitive. The top 5 set times within a tenth of a second of each other, and just 1.096 seconds separated all the drivers.
The first ADAC GT Masters race gets underway at 16:10 CEST on Saturday and will be streamed live on Sport1.de, Joyn, ServusTV ON and youtube.com/ADACMotorsports; in addition, the action will be available to watch on catch-up on Sky Sport, at 22:00 CEST. The endurance format will be used at the Nürburgring once again, with 80 minutes of racing action, including two pit stops with driver changes.
