Maiden victory in ADAC GT4 Germany for Alon Gabbay and Maximilian Schreyer. Denny Berndt and Lachlan Robinson finish second to tighten their grip on top spot. Second podium for Toyota duo Lucas Cartelle and Hudson Schwartz.
Porsche enjoyed an extremely successful weekend in ADAC GT4 Germany at the Norisring. Following a one-two in the Saturday race, it was once again two 718 Cayman GT4 that led the field home in race two on Sunday. Victory this time went the way of Alon Gabbay (22/ISR) and Maximilian Schreyer (17/Marburg), ahead of their AVIA W&S Motorsport team-mates Denny Berndt (21/Berlin) and Lachlan Robinson (22/AUS). For Gabbay and Schreyer, this was the very first win in ADAC GT4 Germany. Second place was enough for Berndt and Robinson to extend their lead at the top of the table. Third place, after an impressive fight, went to Lucas Cartelle (18/BEL) and Hudson Schwartz (17/USA, both CRT) in a Toyota GR Supra GT4. As such, the podium featured the same six drivers as it did 24 hours earlier.
Gabbay started the race at the spectacular street circuit in Nuremberg from pole position. He was fastest out of the blocks and managed to open a small lead at the head of the field. Only team-mate Berndt was able to go with the Israeli. The two Porsche drivers dominated the first half of the race with consistently fast lap times, and had established an advantage of roughly ten seconds by the driver changeover. The battle for the lead continued when Maximilian Schreyer and Lachlan Robinson replaced their team-mates at the wheel.
However, then came the setback for Berndt and Robinson. Race control punished them for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane - and ordered Robinson to complete the so-called penalty lap twice, which cost him roughly ten seconds. That allowed Schreyer to complete a comfortable victory, which also meant success for him and Alon Gabbay in the Junior classification. Berndt and Robinson still managed to take second place to ensure they travel as championship leaders to the next race weekend, which takes place at the end of July at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
The battle for third place was even more exciting. Toyota driver Lucas Cartelle and record ADAC GT4 Germany winner Gabriele Piana (39/ITA, FK Performance Motorsport, BMW M4 GT4) spent several laps locked wheel to wheel in the closing stages, keeping the large crowd on the edge of its seat. Over the course of the weekend, 118,000 spectators visited the Norisring, which was sold out on both Saturday and Sunday. In the end, Cartelle came out on top, meaning he and team-mate Hudson Schwartz were able to celebrate on the podium for the second race in a row. Piana and his partner Benjamin Sylvestersson (19/FIN) finished fourth to tighten their grip on third place in the table.
In fifth place were Jan Philipp Springob (25/Olpe) and Philipp Gogollok (20/Bad Homburg, both COSY Racing by ESM) in an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4, ahead of Linus Hahne (22/Oelde) and Philip Wiskirchen (21/Euskirchen, both ME Motorsport), and Luis Moser (17/AUT) and Luca Link (22/Günzburg, both FK Performance Motorsport, all BMW). Eighth place went to Hendrik Still (38/Kempenich) and Tim Horrell (35/USA, both AVIA W&S Motorsport) in a Porsche, who were actually running third in the first half of the race. Eight overall was enough for this duo to take victory in the PRO-AM class. Lukas Stiefelhagen (19/NED) and Leon Bauchmüller (19/Kurchlinteln, both ME Motorsport) finished ninth. With that, Stiefelhagen also won the Rookie competition. Roman Fellner-Feldegg (24/Landsberg am Lech) and Marek Böckmann (29/Lautersheim, both Prosport Racing) completed the top ten in a Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Alon Gabbay – winner for AVIA W&S Motorsport "It is really awesome to win here. I am also very proud of Maximilian, as this is only his second year in GT4 racing. We rocked today. I am thrilled with two podiums at the Norisring."
Maximilian Schreyer – winner for AVIA W&S Motorsport "The weekend was simply mega for us - and I am lost for words. After second place yesterday, we can now celebrate victory. Thank you to the whole team and Alon for the hard work. The Norisring suited us really well last year too. Now we are looking forward to the coming race weekends."
Denny Berndt – runner-up for AVIA W&S Motorsport "To finish second after starting second on the grid is definitely okay. Unfortunately, we had an issue with the dashboard, which meant we did not have a speed limiter upon entering the pit lane. That made it a bit difficult today. However, our pace was generally good. Second place means some great points for the championship." Lachlan Robinson – runner-up for AVIA W&S Motorsport "I am as happy as you can be. Without any displays on the dashboard, it was not easy to get through the race. We have been really good all season - and want to continue that way in Oschersleben. We are not thinking too much about the title yet, as there are still many races to come, so a lot can still happen."
Lucas Cartelle – third place for CRT "The final ten laps were really good fun, when I was battling for the podium with Gabriele Piana. Third place means we have picked up a lot of points in the overall standings. Toyota and the team provided us with a real rocket here - thank you to them for that."
Hudson Schwartz – third place for CRT "I feel awesome. My stint was really tricky, particularly as it started to rain lightly. I tried to overtake as many other cars as possible, and to keep the car on the track. Thank you to everyone for the super result."
