- Performance Drivers Maro Engel and Luca Stolz celebrate second and third place on Sunday
- Mercedes-AMG Team HRT heading home in the lead of the teams’ standings
- Rookie Tom Kalender and reigning champion Elias Seppänen celebrate ADAC GT Masters win
The new DTM season got off with a success for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing at the weekend. During the season opener in Oschersleben, the Performance Teams HRT and WINWARD proved to be strong straight away. Maro Engel and Luca Stolz (both GER) finished second and third in Sunday’s race in the high-quality field of 20 DTM professionals. In both races on the 3.667 kilometres long circuit, all four Mercedes-AMG GT3s finished in the point-scoring positions. The performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach is in second place in the manufacturers’ standings after the first of eight stops on this year’s calendar.
For Luca Stolz, second place on the grid in the second qualifying session was the foundation for what was to be a prolific Sunday. The 28-year-old Mercedes-AMG Team HRT driver initially was in contention for victory during his first stint. A full course yellow phase 26 minutes into the race produced the decisive situation. Maro Engel had worked his way up from tenth on the grid and benefited from the neutralisation. The 38-year-old had completed his pit stop shortly beforehand and found himself in second position when racing resumed. In the final stages, he was involved in a close battle for victory with the race leader. After 40 laps, the #130 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD was classified in second place, 0.300 seconds down. Luca Stolz took the chequered flag in third place.
Mercedes-AMG Team HRT’s Arjun Maini (IND) started from fifth on the grid and finished fourth behind his team-mate. Lucas Auer (AUT) incurred damage to the front right of his car on the opening lap due to contact through no fault of his own. The 29-year-old continued his race. In spite of all his problems, he took the chequered flag in eleventh place with the #22 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Maro Engel and Arjun Maini had already made the first mark for Mercedes-AMG on Friday by posting the fastest times in the two practice sessions. The four Performance Drivers also finished in the point-scoring positions in Saturday’s race. Luca Stolz and Lucas Auer finished fifth and sixth, closely followed by Arjun Maini in eighth place. After a late red flag in qualifying, Maro Engel ended up in 13th place and was rewarded with three championship points.
Convincing performance by the young drivers
For Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, the opening round of the ADAC GT Masters also went very promising. The first of six race weekends came to a crowning conclusion on Sunday with a 1-2 for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with LANDGRAF Motorsport and Haupt Racing Team. As the youngest driver in the history of the ADAC GT Masters, Tom Kalender (GER) was victorious at the age of 16 years and 32 days together with Elias Seppänen (FIN) ahead of Jannes Fittje and Finn Wiebelhaus (both GER). For David Schumacher (GER), his ADAC GT Masters debut proved to be a rollercoaster of emotions. The Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver claimed pole position in qualifying on Sunday and then led the race until he was stopped by a power steering failure.
Saturday’s race was also successful for Mercedes-AMG with a double podium result. Tom Kalender and reigning champion Elias Seppänen finished in second place. Kwanda Mokoena (RSA) and Max Reis (GER) from Haupt Racing Team rounded out the podium. There was also a podium finish to celebrate for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing in the ADAC GT4 Germany. Marc de Fulgencio (ESP) and Enzo Joulié (FRA) with the BWT Mücke Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 finished second in the race on Saturday.
