First win of the season for the Wimmer Werk Motorsport drivers. Three Porsche duos on the podium. Junior, Team, Rookie and PRO-AM competitions decided.
Excitement right down to the last minute: Saturday’s ADAC GT4 Germany race at the Hockenheimring served up some thrilling motorsport and a new winning duo. Raphael Rennhofer (18/AUT) and Emil Heyerdahl (23/NOR, both Wimmer Werk Motorsport) claimed their first victory of the season in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 and, in doing so, kept their hopes of winning the Drivers’ Championship alive. Their team-mates Oskar Lind Kristensen (19/DNK) and Lachlan Robinson (22/AUS, both AVIA W&S Motorsport) were second. They were joined on the podium by Hendrik Still (38/Kempenich) and Philipp Gogollok (19/Bad Homburg, both also AVIA W&S Motorsport).
Robinson started the race from pole position and was the fastest off the line. Heyerdahl, who started from third on the grid, climbed into second place in turn one and took over as Robinson’s closest rival. Fellow Porsche driver Still also made his move into the top three on the opening lap. As the race progressed, the Porsche trio pulled clear of the rest of the field and were still in this order as they pulled into the pit lane together for the driver changeover. Team-mates Kristensen, Rennhofer and Gogollok took over at the wheel of the respective Porsche.
Meanwhile, championship leaders Enrico Förderer (18/Leuterod) and Jay Mo Härtling (22/Sprockhövel, both SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm) had battled their way into fourth place in the Mercedes-AMG GT4. Were the race to have ended at this point, Förderer and Härtling would have been crowned ADAC GT4 Germany champions. However, with roughly five minutes of the race remaining, Rennhofer overtook Kristensen to take the lead and ultimately the win. Rennhofer and Heyerdahl thus ensured that the destination of the title would be decided on Sunday. They could also celebrate ending the race as the top Juniors. The Junior title, however, went the way of Förderer and Härtling.
Fifth in Saturday’s race were Denny Berndt (20/Berlin) and Max Rosam (20/Taunusstein, both Razoon - more than Racing) in another Porsche, ahead of Jan Philipp Springob (24/Olpe) and Storm Gjerdrum (16/NOR, both COSY Racing by ESM) in their Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4. Gjerdrum was the best-placed Rookie in Saturday’s race. Seventh place went to Hugo Sasse (21/Aschersleben) and Roman Fellner-Feldegg (23/Landsberg am Lech, both Prosport Racing, also Aston Martin), followed by Gabriele Piana (39/ITA) and Berkay Besler (25/TUR, both FK Performance Motorsport) in a BMW M4 GT4, and Alex Connor (21/GBR) and Julien Apothéloz (24/CHE, both BWT Mücke Motorsport) in a Mercedes-AMG. Completing the top ten were Marek Böckmann (29/Lautersheim) and Anton Paul Abée (28/Hamburg, both Prosport Racing).
As well as the Junior competition, the champions were also decided in a further three classifications. AVIA W&S Motorsport won the Team competition. Cedric Fuchs (19/Holzappel, SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm) is the Rookie champion. Laurenz Rühl (19/Friedrichsdorf) and Damon Surzyshyn (48/CAN, both Razoon - xAutomotive Racing) can celebrate winning the PRO-AM title.
Raphael Rennhofer – winner for Wimmer Werk Motorsport: “That is my best win so far in GT4 racing. We have worked really hard all year for that. To still have a small chance of winning the title is the icing on the cake. We are under no pressure tomorrow, and will give it our all again.”
Emil Heyerdahl – winner for Wimmer Werk Motorsport: “It is hard to describe how it feels to win a race in my first year in ADAC GT4 Germany. The team really deserves this triumph. We will enjoy the win today, but are already thinking about tomorrow, when we will go on the attack again!”
Oskar Lind Kristensen – second place for AVIA W&S Motorsport: “We are really happy with the car and its performance. The success ballast from the last race made it a bit difficult towards the end of the race. Unfortunately, we lost the lead as a result – but these things happen sometimes. Thank you to Lachlan for the great job he did in the first stint.”
Lachlan Robinson – second place for AVIA W&S Motorsport: “We would definitely have liked to have finished one step higher on the podium, but second place is nothing to be ashamed of. We are very happy. We will have a little less success ballast in the car tomorrow. Hopefully we will get the win then.”
Hendrik Still – third place for AVIA W&S Motorsport: “To keep our title hopes alive, we would have had to win today. We did not manage that. However, we already knew beforehand that it would be tough. We start from pole position tomorrow and will push hard again. The goal is now to end the season as runners-up.”
Philipp Gogollok – third place for AVIA W&S Motorsport: “We had a good race. In the end, it is a bit of a shame that we had to settle for third place. We can still finish runner-up in the championship. That is what we will be fighting for tomorrow.”
