• Race 1: Second place for MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport (#47) and fourth place for Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing (#21)
• Race 2: Seventh place for MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport (#47)

Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing is looking back upon an action-packed ADAC GT Masters weekend at the Hockenheimring: in race one, Maximilian Götz (GER) and Indy Dontje (NED) of the MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport (#47) finished in second place and secured a podium finish for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport for the fourth consecutive event. Meanwhile, Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing (#21) only just missed out on a podium finish in fourth place, but did still score valuable championship points with its best result of the season to date. In the second race, all four Mercedes-AMG GT3 that had taken the start finished in the points.

In perfect weather conditions, the race weekend at the Hockenheimring got off to a promising start for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport: in qualifying on Saturday, Indy Dontje came third with his #47 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and secured a good grid position for the MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport for the race on the afternoon. Moreover, Jimmy Eriksson of the Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing claimed fifth place on the grid at the 4.574 kilometres long track.

The first race started in a dramatic way: in the tight pack, there was a multi-car collision after the first corners already and several Mercedes-AMG GGT3 were involved. Among those affected was Fabian Vettel of MANN-FILTER-Team HTP Motorsport (#48). The German escaped unscathed, but the GT3 was so heavily damaged that the weekend was over for him and his teammate Philipp Ellis (GBR). After the restart, things went better for the remaining sister car with starting number 47. With the Mercedes-AMG GT3, Dontje was able to hold on to his starting grid position and masterfully turned down the attacks by his rivals until coming in for the pit stop. He handed the car to Götz in third place, after which the German moved up into second with a well-timed overtaking move. Götz defended this position until the final lap in which he was overtaken once more. As this action took place while double waved yellow flags were out, Götz / Dontje were still classified in second place. As a result, the German-Dutch duo secured its second podium finish of this ADAC GT Masters season. As a result of the 30-second time penalty of the rivalling team, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with starting number 21, driven by Jimmy Eriksson (SWE) and Daniel Keilwitz (GER) also moved up one position. That enabled the team to score valuable points for the series’ drivers’ and teams’ standings, fourth place equalling the best result for the Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing so far this season.

Like on the previous day, the race on Sunday had to be interrupted following a collision after only a few seconds. Once the action had resumed, Götz managed to secure his position. He handed the car to Dontje in eighth place and the latter made up one position during his stint with the #47 car and crossed the finish line in seventh place. By virtue of the weekend’s pair of top ten results, the duo moved up into fourth place of the drivers’ standings. With the #21 and #20 cars of the Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing (9^th and 13^th place respectively) and the #36 Schütz Motorsport entry (11^th place), three further Mercedes-AMG GT3 made it into the point-scoring positions, partly after impressive progress. Eleventh place for Marvin Dienst (GER) and Aidan Read (AUS) with the #36 car equalled second position in the junior classification in the race.

The next two races of the ADAC GT Masters will be held at the Sachsenring (27-29 September).

Second consecutive AMG victory in ADAC GT4 Germany
In the ADAC GT4 Germany races on the support package of the ADAC GT Masters at the Hockenheimring, Mercedes-AMG also extended its streak of success: after their victory at the Nürburgring, Tim Heinemann and Luke Wankmüller (both GER) of the HP Racing International team (#77) added their next win in the first race at the Hockenheimring. In total, four Mercedes-AMG GT4 ended up in the top ten in the field of 26 cars.

Maximilian Götz, MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport #47: “Yesterday’s qualifying was very good and therefore the foundation for second place, which is super for our team and brought us valuable points. The pace was there in both races, although the additional 20 kilograms of weight had their effect today. Unfortunately, the second race was stopped right after the start as well, I had already moved up into fifth place at that time. After the restart, I just kept going with the flow in traffic, was able to keep up with the pace, but couldn’t make up any positions because everybody was more or less equally fast. Therefore, I tried to save the tyres for Indy, which paid off. With second and seventh place, we can be very happy, also as it enabled us to move up in the championship standings. Thanks to the entire team for the great job!” 

Indy Dontje, MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport #47: “All in all, that was a good weekend for us. On Saturday, we finally scored a podium finish again. Second place is a very good result for us: for myself, for Maxi and for the team. I already started with a very good qualifying and after that, the race was faultless. Maxi then took over the car in third place and drove the podium finish home. A super good result, a great performance and also valuable points in the championship. Today, it was really close in qualifying, but eighth place was a good position to start from. In the race, we then went on to secure seventh place in spite of 20 kilograms of handicap weight, we are happy with that. Now, we are heading into our final race weekend. We can still claim runner-up spot in the championship. Currently, we are in fourth place. We will do our utmost at the Sachsenring, that is one of my favourite tracks!”

Fabian Vettel, MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport #48: “I was really looking forward to racing at the Hockenheimring. However, the weekend was over after not even one lap, even though it had actually started well. I kept up nicely with the rest of the field in the first corner, but shortly after that, there was some contact a few rows ahead of me. Some cars spun, others swerved to the left or the right in avoidance. In fact, everybody only reacted to the driver in front. I then had to escape onto the grass to the right, hoping to steer away from the turmoil, but there was already a thick cloud of dust there. One couldn’t see a thing anymore and the collision that followed put an end to our weekend, because the car was damaged beyond repair. Too bad, but we now have to look ahead and attack in full force at the Sachsenring in a fortnight.”