Niklas Kalus (19/Duisburg/Haupt Racing Team) secured pole position for Sunday’s race at the Dekra Lausitzring with a time of 1:20.250 minutes. It was the ADAC GT Masters rookie’s first qualifying session and the maiden pole for the new Ford Mustang GT3.
“If someone had told me this would happen, I would have said they were crazy,” laughed rookie Kalus, who finished in third place on the podium alongside team-mate Max Reis (18/Ramstein) on Saturday. “I felt at home in the car right from the start. I hope we can make strategic use of pole position. However, it’s supposed to rain during the race, which will be a challenge for me because I’ve never driven in the wet before.”
In 14 degrees and cloudy skies, the ADAC GT Masters drivers started the 20-minute qualifying session. Initially it was Carrie Schreiner (26/Völklingen/Land-Motorsport) and Jonathan Cecotto (25/VEN/Haupt Racing Team) who took it in turns to set the best times. Just under six minutes before the end of the session, the times came in thick and fast. Salman Owega (20/Köln) ended up securing P2 on the grid with his Ford Mustang GT3 to complete the front row for Haupt Racing Team.
In third place was Jannes Fittje (25/Langenhain/SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm), who had been in the lead in his Mercedes-AMG GT3 at one point. Fourth place went to Simon Connor Primm (20/Großschirma/Paul Motorsport). Local hero and his team-mate Finn Zulauf (20/Königsstein/Paul Motorsport) had big plans after leading for much of Saturday’s race before being thwarted by tyre damage. The top 5 was completed by current championship leader Simon Birch (18/DNK/Razoon – more than racing).
The second race of the weekend at the Dekra Lausitzring gets underway at 15:10 CEST. Sport1 will be broadcasting the action live on free TV from 15:00 CEST. The second race of the ADAC’s GT3 junior league will also be shown for free on Joyn, ServusTV ON and at youtube.com/ADACMotorsports.
