With one more pole and a junior podium for Carrie Schreiner/Dennis Marshall, together with more solid points for Simona de Silvestro/Klaus Bachler, it was a more positive weekend for the ladies of ADAC GT Masters, while Frey/von Danwitz keep looking for performance.
The race event at the Sachsenring marked the mid-way point of the ADAC GT Masters 2020 season, with again up to 6.000 spectators per day allowed at the racetrack.
With five winners in six races and a close championship battle, Patric Niederhauser and Kelvin van der Linde are on top of the standings and tried to defend their leadership in Hohenstein-Ernstthal.
Race 1 marked the best result of the weekend for Simona de Silvestro and Klaus Bachler. Marvin Dienst defended his pole at the start, pulled away from the rest of the field and won easily with a significant margin after the driver change to Philipp Frommenwiler was trouble-free.
The fight for second place was a bit closer: Sven Müller and Renauer had the upper hand of Luca Stolz and Maro Engel by 0,9 seconds. For Stolz and Engel it was enough to take over the lead in the championship.
It was an unlucky first race for Franck Perera and Albert Costa Balboa, who picked up a puncture with 3 minutes to go before the chequered flag.
Simona de Silvestro and Klaus Bachler, racing in the KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard Porsche were the best team featuring a female racer and finished in P9, solidly in the points.
Carrie Schreiner and Dennis Marschall started back from the 30th place but could make up several positions in the race and finished in P21: "Really good race today. It’s so much fun racing in the pack with the others. Our package seems a bit stronger than expected, so we hope to perform on our important day tomorrow", Dennis commented after the first race of the weekend.
Rahel Frey and Hendrik von Danwitz started second to last in P32 and again had a difficult race, placing their Audi from Aust Motorsport in 28th position across the finish line.
In race 2, Dennis Marschall put his and Carrie Schreiner's RUTRONIK-RACING Audi on pole position, but he did not have a perfect start and dropped down do 4th. Maro Engel took over the lead, ahead of Albert Costa Balboa.
Behind them some cars collided and required the intervention fo the Safety Car. As the race went green again, Engel pulled away, before he had a technical issue and went through the gravel to retire. Now Balboa was the leader but, after the driver change, his teammate Perera had troubles just as Markus Pommer was closing in behind him in the Callaway Competition Corvette. Pommer couldn't find a way past Perera and crossed the finish line in second. In the end, Perera/Balboa were winner on track but received a 30-second time penalty because of an infringement behind the Safety Car. Pommer/Schmidt thus inherited the win ahead of Charles Weerts/Dries Vanthoor and Patric Niederhauser/Kelvin van der Linde.
After their P9 on Saturday, Simona de Silvestro and Klaus Bachler were again in the Top 10 until their race came to an end after an unlucky contact. Despite the broken steering, Simona was still satisfied with their perfomance: "P9 yesterday and running strong in the top 10 today until we had a bit of contact that broke our steering which ended our day." - she commented. "But big improvements on the overall weekend being competitive in both races. Bring on the next one in 2 weeks."
Carrie Schreiner took over from Dennis Marschall in P6 and finished in a strong 8th place on Sunday - which means third in the junior class and another podium for the duo, that leaves Carrie with a heppy feeling: "Good day! Going home as a happy child today. Went out from the pits on P6 and finished P8 in total and P3 on the junior podium. I know the start was difficult for you but you are an absolute legend Dennis Marschall with your 2nd pole in a row. Thanks team! Always there in good and bad days."
Rahel Frey and Hendrik von Danwitz finished last of the cars who crossed the chequered flag and marked again a difficult weekend for the Aust Motorsport team.
The next round of the ADAC GT Masters will take place at the Red Bull Ring in Austria from 16th to 18th October.
