Carrie Schreiner fights through a difficult weekend in Zandvoort
- MIKA BÖCKER
- Jun 11
- 3 min read
After a positive season opener, Carrie Schreiner endured a challenging second ADAC GT Masters round in Zandvoort, where the Audi fell short of expectations, securing a P11 as best of the weekend.
Carrie Schreiner fought through a difficult weekend in Zandvoort, where in mixed conditions on the Dutch coast, Schreiner's Audi fell short of expectations, giving the driver duo a very challenging outing.
Schreiner had celebrated a positive comeback in the ADAC GT Masters at the Lausitzring, where she partnered for the first time with Audi debutant Alain Valente, securing a seventh place finish in a rain-soaked second race. Carrie and her teammate made steady improvements and could score her first points in the series since her last race in this championship in 2020.
After a positive season opener, with a particularly strong qualifying effort, the Land Motorsport duo aimed to keep momentum into Zandvoort – the circuit that gave Schreiner her first F1 Academy win.
In free practice, it initially looked as if the team could keep up with the field more effectively than at the Lausitzring. Although with time still to be found, the gap to the leaders had narrowed.
Heavy rain then began to fall during the first qualifying session. All teams immediately headed out to acclimate to the wet conditions. Valente was able to set competitive lap times, running among the front-runners. In the following laps, he continued to improve in the first sectors but lost time in the final sector and ultimately finished seventh. A penalty for the #8 car promoted Valente to sixth on the grid.
The race, however, was dry. Valente defended sixth place at the start and spent the opening two laps fending off fierce attacks from the Mustang behind. The Mustang was soon overtaken by a BMW, which then also passed Valente. On the same lap, Valente lost out in a duel with the Mustang as well. It wasn’t long before he was demoted to 11th place.
After a quarter of the race, the leading Schnitzelalm Mercedes suddenly came to a stop. Though it had fallen to the back of the field, the car got going again and was able to continue.
At the halfway point, pit stops commenced, and Carrie Schreiner took over the wheel, rejoining in 13th place. A drive-through penalty for Ladniak handed her one position. Unfortunately, she couldn’t gain any more ground. The Schnitzelalm Mercedes eventually broke down again—this time for good.
A full-course yellow was triggered with 12 minutes remaining, which was soon converted into a safety car period. The time ticked down and not all cars were able to close the gap before the race restarted with just 1:10 left on the clock: after a duel, Fach ran into the gravel, allowing Schreiner to capitalize and narrowly miss the top ten, finishing in eleventh.
In another wet qualifying session, Schreiner started Race 2 from 11th place. A minor incident at the start sent the #1 Mustang off the track and forced several cars to swerve across the grass. Schreiner held her position initially but was unable to gain any places afterwards. Light rain began shortly after the start, and the Land Motorsport Audi fell to 12th, struggling in those conditions to keep up pace.
With 33:30 minutes remaining, the German driver pitted and handed the car over to Valente. Shortly after the stops, a BMW and the #15 Mustang collided, with the Mustang spinning into the gravel but managing to rejoin. Another BMW then collided with the Schnitzelalm Mercedes, damaging its fender. The tyre rubbed against the bodywork for several laps before the fender came loose, scattering debris in the final two corners. In both incidents, the Land Motorsport Audi wasn't close enough to take advantage.
At the end of another race run under difficult conditions, Valente crossed the finish line in 13th place.
Schreiner expressed disappointment for the outcome at one of her favourite circuits. On Instagram, she wrote: “I don’t even know where to begin… from start to finish, nothing went our way. Alain and I were far from our potential.” She was particularly frustrated by her car’s performance, although she has yet to determine the cause of the issues.
Hoping to get to the bottom of the problems, Schreiner is now looking ahead to the next ADAC GT Masters round at the Nürburgring from July 11–13, 2025. Before that, she will return to the Nordschleife to compete for the GirlsOnly team.
