Carrie Schreiner makes positive return to ADAC GT Masters with strong drive in Lausitzring
- MIKA BÖCKER
- May 27
- 6 min read
"The longer the weekend went on, the better we got along" - Carrie Schreiner celebrated a positive comeback in the ADAC GT Masters at the Lausitzring with Audi debutant Alain Valente as teammate, securing a seventh place finish in a rain-soaked second race.
Carrie Schreiner celebrated a positive comeback in the ADAC GT Masters at the Lausitzring with Audi debutant Alain Valente as teammate, securing a seventh place finish in a rain-soaked second race.
After initial challenges in the test and practice sessions before as well as on the first race weekend of the ADAC GT Masters at the Lausitzring, the Saarland-native is steadily improving and could score her first points in the series since her last race in this championship in 2020.
After several years away from the ADAC GT Masters, also known as the league of super sports cars, Schreiner returned to the Land Motorsport squad, alongside a new teammate, Swiss driver Alain Valente, had also previously competed in this championship, but switched manufacturers from Ferrari to Audi.
Pre-season testing was promising, with the team delivering good lap times. However during the official practice sessions in the race week, the team had to face some more challenges, and were initially unable to replicate the times from the tests two weeks earlier.
Friday’s practice sessions were therefore spent primarily for setup work on the car - work that was interrupted during the first practice due to a lengthy red flag for barrier repairs. At the end of the practice sessions, the Land Motorsport team found itself with some catching up to do.
The first qualifying session began on Saturday with good weather. The car was improved overnight, and the team was hopeful that Valente could secure a good starting position. He was able to put this into practice and initially set the fastest time. As the grip conditions changed over the course of the session, other drivers also became significantly faster. In the end, Valente slipped to 11th place, but remained the best Audi in the field with a time of 1:21.112.
Due to a grid penalty for the #3 Mustang of Haupt Racing Team, Valente started the race from 10th place. He was initially unable to defend his position in the first two laps and slipped to 12th place. The start was relatively calm, with only the Schnitzelalm Mercedes spinning into the gravel after a collision. He managed to free himself and fell behind Valente. The Swiss driver now battled against Gjerdrum in the Pro-AM Lamborghini. Wiebelhaus received a penalty for the collision with the Mercedes and Valente picked up one more position.
With 61:30 minutes remaining, the Land Motorsport team returned to the pits for its first short pit stop and to switch to Carrie Schreiner. Most of the other teams opted for the long mandatory pit stop, allowing Carrie to make up some positions.
Rejoining in 10th place before the end of the pit stop cycle, Carrie found herself in 5th place. With 43 minutes remaining, she had closed the gap to Cosateng’s BMW and was breathing down its neck. On the long straights, however, the Audi was not as fast as the BMW, so she couldn’t find a way past it. This duel not only affected her tyre life, but also the gap to the cars behind; Birch in the Razoon Porsche was able to close the gap by leaps and bounds.
Carrie initially closed every gaps and defended fiercely. At the entrance to the first corner, the Porsche driver made a first attempt, but the Dane didn’t follow through with the maneuver - as the two lost time on Cosateng in the fight. Birch eventually overtook Carrie on the following lap. The gap to the BMW grew, and Schreiner couldn’t capitalize when the faster Birch overtook Cosateng.
The German driver started to struggle on the older tyres and, as the drivers on fresher tyres closed the gap, she fell back to 11th place.
With 24 minutes remaining, she made her final, now longer pit stop - which was a bit longer than planned, causing Valente to drop to the back of the pack. While he was unable to close the gap to the driver in front during the final stint, he could gain a position when the leading Finn Zulauf picked up a puncture and lost a significant amount of time. This left Valente and Schreiner in 12th place at the end of the first race.
Carrie Schreiner competed in qualifying on Sunday morning. The Land Motorsport team further improved the car’s setup overnight and the BoP was also slightly adjusted after qualifying, which was fairer to the Audi. Like Valente the day before, Schreiner set early best times and steadily improved; in the second sector alone, she improved by over 1.5 seconds over her practice best times. Despite a new fastest lap for the team of 1:21.102, she ultimately only finished in eleventh place.
Before the start of the second race, rain started to fall, turning it into a wet race. Schreiner got off to a good start and was able to gain positions before the first corner. At the front of the field, there were several collisions and the Lamborghini driven by Connor-Primm went off, suffering consequential damage and initially losing fluids before retiring.
While the leading cars continued to slide into the dirt on the second lap, Schreiner worked her way up to eighth place before the other Audi in the field overtook her. Before the end of the second lap, the race was red-flagged due to fluids spilled by the Lamborghini. During the cleanup, not only were the cars repaired, but the order from the first lap was also restored.
The race initially resumed behind the safety car. The restart took place after two laps and with 72 minutes remaining: while Schreiner initially lost the position other Audi, she soon managed to overtake Schwarzer's Porsche at the start of the second lap in turn one. Just one lap later, she repeated the maneuver, this time successfully beating Holzer. Now with a clear path, she was at times faster than the pole-sitter.
With 59 minutes remaining, Schreiner made her first pit stop, although, as in the first race, the shorter stop was made first. Valente was now up into sixth place after the pit cycle, just ahead of Fach's Porsche. The Swiss driver quickly pulled away and Valente briefly became the fastest driver in the field, closing the gap on Ladniak. The latter spun his Lamborghini into the gravel, prompting a brief full course yellow.
The race resumed with 44 minutes remaining. Valente fought with Fetzer in front of him until the latter also slid into the gravel. He then had to defend himself against Hanke, who had gained six seconds during the full course yellow. Hanke forced his way past the Audi after a lengthy battle and pulled away. After this duel, Valente came in for his second, longer pit stop with 18 minutes to go.
This time, the second stop was a smooth one and after the pit cycle, Schreiner was up into seventh place. Although she couldn’t close the gap to the car in front, she was able to maintain a constant gap to the chasing pack.
She achieved a satisfactory seventh place, which is a cause for celebration, especially given the adverse weather conditions: "I’m extremely happy with seventh place today", she told us. "Especially given the difficult conditions. So, anyone who knows me knows that I haven’t always been a rain god, and that’s why I definitely have nothing to hide with my performance.“
Carrie is also satisfied with the weekend itself overall, as she continued: "Well, the start of the season was a bit bumpy, at least at the beginning. We had a few difficulties, but the longer the weekend went on, the better we got along. That means we improved a lot on the car, and both of us continued to improve our driving skills."
"It’s also important to remember that Alain has virtually no experience with the car because he’s never driven an Audi before", Schreiner added. "This was the first time at the test a few weeks ago. So I think everything went in the right direction, especially today."
The improvement in qualifying was particularly encouraging: "Ultimately, being 8-tenths behind the first in qualifying isn’t so bad. And the [other] Audi was almost as fast. After that, they adjusted the BoP. It’s a shame they didn’t do it until after qualifying.“
After the positive race, Schreiner is now looking forward to the next race in Zandvoort from June 6-8.
