A historic victory, two brothers, many guests, and a very special birthday present. The Paddock Radar from the Salzburgring.

Maiden victory for McLaren in the ADAC GT Masters

The first time a McLaren lined up in the ADAC GT Masters was on 30th March 2012 in Oschersleben. Back then, it was an MP4-12C GT3, run by the MRS GT-Racing team. More than 13 years later, the manufacturer has celebrated its maiden victory in the ADAC’s GT3 series. Making a guest appearance at the Salzburgring, it was Ben Dörr and Guilherme de Oliveira from DTM team Dörr Motorsport who claimed the historic win in a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Up until then, the best result in the ADAC GT Masters was fifth place at the Red Bull Ring in 2012, courtesy of Sascha Bert and Christopher Brück from Gemballa Racing. In the same year, MRS GT Racing and Philipp Eng managed to secure a pole position – also at the Red Bull Ring. However, the car then failed to finish the race.

Dropping in for a visit

Austrian parachute World Cup winner and multiple junior world champion Sophie Grill literally “dropped” in to the ADAC GT Masters on Sunday. The 26-year-old from Salzburg appropriately landed on the start-finish straight. “As somebody from Salzburg, it is a special honour for me to be able to fly over and land on this circuit,” said a beaming Grill, who later handed the trophy over to Leyton Fourie and Tim Zimmermann on the podium.

Double shift for youngster Gjerdrum

Storm Gjerdrum was a busy man at the weekend. The 16-year-old Norwegian was not only starting in the ADAC Touring Car Junior Cup, but was also a last-minute addition to the ADAC GT Masters field. “On the evening before we started at the Salzburgring, I received a phone call asking whether I would like to drive. It was totally crazy, but I said yes immediately,” laughed Gjerdrum, who shared the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 of Liqui Moly Team Engstler by GRT with Tim Hütter. However, he did not have any trouble switching to and fro between his Volkswagen up to the Lamborghini. “In my VW, the engine is up front and it is front-wheel drive. In contrast, the engine is in the rear of the Lamborghini and we have rear-wheel drive. The two cars and the way you drive them are so different that it was actually easier for me than, for example, switching between a GT4 and a GT3 car.” Gjerdrum underlined how successfully he made the transition with victory in Sunday’s race in the ADAC Touring Car Junior Cup.

ADAC Honorary President Hermann Tomczyk visits

A very special guest was at the Salzburgring on Saturday. ADAC Honorary President Hermann Tomczyk. The 74-year-old was ADAC Sport President for nearly 25 years and led the sporting activities for six terms of office. Tomczyk took the opportunity to present the trophies to the winners of race one, Dörr and de Oliveira from Dörr Motorsport.

Double celebrations for Tim Zimmermann

It was raining messages of congratulations for Tim Zimmermann on Saturday. Not on the track, but off it, as the FK Performance Motorsport celebrated his 29th birthday. One day later, Zimmermann and team-mate Leyton Fourie gave him probably the best present, as they converted pole position into victory at the Salzburgring and cut the gap to the championship leaders to just eight points.

Full house at Fach Auto Tech

The Salzburgring was a special event for Fach Motorsport. The team had invited roughly 80 guests to the race weekend from its home in the Swiss municipality of Sattel. As well as exciting races, in which the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R actually led for a period, the visitors were also given exclusive insights into what goes on in the Fach Auto Tech teams and behind the scenes in the ADAC GT Masters – including visits to race control and technical scrutineering. One special highlight was a track walk with driver Alexander Fach.

Gjerdrum at the double

Storm Gjerdrum’s start for Engstler Motorsport was also a rather special occasion for his team-mates – and nobody more so than his brother Emil, who is the elder of the two by two years. He drives the team’s second car and was happy to share and discuss data, onboard footage and any information with Storm. “It was very special for us. We grew up together watching our father racing, were always at the racetrack, and started out in karting together, so to now have the chance to share such a cool experience with each other was incredible,” said a delighted Emil Gjerdrum, who was naturally happy to support his brother, as Storm revealed: “He has already driven the car for half a season and obviously gave me a few tips.”