Simon Birch (18/DNK/Razoon – more than racing) secured pole position for the opening race of the ADAC GT Masters finale at the Hockenheimring. The rookie, at the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3 R, set a time of 1:38.453 minutes to claim his maiden pole and a first for his Razoon team.
“I am unbelievably happy to end the season with a pole position. We have known all season that we are fast. The opportunity has often been there, but we have not quite managed it for various reasons. The conditions were very tricky, because the track was still damp in the final sector. However, I had the right strategy,” said the beaming Dane. He and team-mate Leo Pichler (23/AUT) currently lie third in the table, 54 points behind the leaders but still with an outside chance of clinching the title. “We obviously want to convert this starting position into a win and to keep our championship hopes alive. We are strong in the wet, but I am just really looking forward to the race, no matter what weather we have in the end.”
Despite cloudy skies and temperatures around 13 degrees, the Hockenheimring was – with the exception of a few sections of the track – dry for the ADAC GT Masters qualifying. Behind Birch, Sandro Holzem (21/Polch/Schubert Motorsport) coped best with the conditions. His BMW M4 GT3 Evo qualified second, 0.249 seconds off the pole time. Third place went to fellow BMW driver Julian Hanses (28/Hilden/FK Performance Motorsport). He came up 0.409 seconds short of securing pole position. In fourth place was Denis Bulatov (26). The Scherer Sport PHX driver set the first real benchmark at the start of qualifying, and his Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2 came within 0.443 seconds of Birch’s time shortly before the end of the session.
Rounding out the top five was title contender Tim Zimmermann (29/Langenargen/FK Performance Motorsport). He set a time of 1:39.034 minutes in his BMW M4 GT3 – 0.235 seconds faster than title rival and championship leader Finn Wiebelhaus (19/Obertshausen/Haupt Racing Team), who qualified eighth in his Ford Mustang GT3.
Race one at the Hockenheimring starts at 15:05. Any fans unable to make it to the iconic circuit can watch the thrilling ADAC GT Masters title race unfold in a livestream at Sport1.de, Joyn, ServusTV ON und youtube.com/ADACMotorsports. Sky Sport Mix will show a full replay of the opening race at 23:45.
