• ADAC GT Masters: a pair of 1-2s for Mercedes-AMG at Sachsenring
• ADAC GT Masters: championship lead for Raffaele Marciello extended
• DTM: A double podium result for Mercedes-AMG in turbulent Sunday race
• DTM: Lucas Auer now in second place of the championship standings

In the penultimate season rounds of both ADAC GT Masters and DTM, the teams with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 racked up two victories, four further podium results and valuable points for the respective championships. In ADAC GT Masters at Sachsenring, there were two 1-2s to celebrate: on Saturday, Jules Gounon (FRA) and Fabian Schiller (GER) from Drago Racing Team ZvO claimed victory ahead of Daniel Juncadella (ESP) and Raffaele Marciello (SUI) from MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF. On Sunday, Marvin Dienst and Jan Marschalkowski (both GER, Mercedes-AMG Team ZvO) won with Juncadella/Marciello second. In DTM at Red Bull Ring, Luca Stolz (GER) from Mercedes-AMG Team HRT and Maro Engel (GER) from Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing finished in second and third place on Sunday. In his home round, Lucas Auer (AUT) from Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD made up ground in the battle for the championship.

Both ADAC GT Masters and DTM have started the decisive phase in the battle for the title. Both sprint race series simultaneously held their penultimate event of the 2022 season. While the international German GT championship raced at Sachsenring, DTM completed its laps at Red Bull Ring in Austria. At both tracks, the teams with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 were able to convince with top results. These enabled the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach to retain its title chances in the two championships with high-quality entries.

GT Masters: a pair of 1-2s at Sachsenring 
For the Saturday race at Sachsenring, Raffaele Marciello put the #48 MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF entry on pole position. Shortly after the start of the race, the ADAC GT Masters points’ leader didn’t pay attention for a brief while, a situation from which Fabian Schiller benefited: having started from second place, the fellow Mercedes-AMG driver took over the lead with the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 run by Drago Racing Team ZvO. After the mandatory pit stop, Schiller’s teammate Jules Gounon defended the lead against Daniel Juncadella, who had taken over from Marciello. After 45 laps of the 3.645 kilometres long undulating track, Gounon crossed the finish line 1.167 seconds ahead of Juncadella, who completed the 1-2 for Mercedes-AMG. Fourth place for Marvin Dienst and Jan Marschalkowski (both GER, Mercedes-AMG Team ZvO) and P7 for Frank Bird (GBR) and Elias Seppänen (FIN, MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF) rounded out the success.

For the Sunday race, the #8 Mercedes-AMG Team ZvO car (Dienst, Marschalkowski) and the #48 MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF entry (Marciello, Juncadella) had secured the best grid positions for the cars from Affalterbach on the third row. With a good opening stage, both Jan Marschalkowski with the #8 car and Daniel Juncadella with the #48 quickly made up positions. After the chance to Marvin Dienst and Raffaele Marciello respectively, the two Mercedes-AMG GT3s were already on course for a podium finish and were able to take over the double lead just before the end of the race. After 44 laps, Dienst eventually cemented his first win of the season while Marciello collected further valuable championship points with P2.

The previous day’s winners Jules Gounon and Fabian Schiller, meanwhile, had bad luck. In qualifying, Gounon had achieved a new qualifying record at Sachsenring in 1m 17.551s. However, due to an infringement of the regulations (insufficient fuel to extract a reference sample), the result was declared void. Having started from the back of the field, Gounon started a fulminant recovery drive in the race and brought the #4 car up into P8. During the pit stop, however, issues with the pedals forced the team to retire early. With his pair of second places, Marciello extends his lead in the ADAC GT Masters drivers’ standings and, with an advantage of 42 points, he is the top favourite going into the finale that is held at Hockenheimring on 22nd and 23rd October.

DTM: A double podium result at Red Bull Ring
In DTM at Red Bull Ring, the focus was on Lucas Auer (AUT) in particular as he headed to his home race at Spielberg as a title candidate. For the Saturday race, the Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD driver qualified in P7. In the race, the local hero had a good start and quickly made up positions. At the finish, he was just behind the podium slots in fourth place. A ten-second penalty for an alleged excessive pit lane speed initially made the title candidate drop back to ninth place, but this penalty was recalled after exact analysis by the stewards. Next to Auer, Maro Engel (GER, Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM) in P7, Maximilian Götz (GER, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing) in P9 and Luca Stolz (GER, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT) in P10 also finished in the top ten of the Saturday race.

On Sunday, the weather caused additional challenges at Red Bull Ring. In the rainy qualifying that had to be interrupted frequently due to accidents, Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel posted the fastest time on a rain-soaked track ahead of Maximilian Götz in P2. From pole position, Engel initially maintained the lead with the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM car. At a drying track, there were numerous turbulent situations as the race unfolded and the pit stop strategy turned out to be the race-deciding factor. In the process, Luca Stolz (GER) was in the best position with the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT entry: having started from P11, the Nürburgring race winner claimed second place with his strategy and kept it until the finish. In the dramatic closing stages, Engel, who had temporarily dropped back, was able to work his way back up into third place. Arjun Maini (IND) just missed out on the podium as he finished in P4 with the #36 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT car. Lucas Auer also benefited from an early change to slick tyres and maintained his chances in the battle for the title with P6 plus an additional point for the fastest race lap. Prior to the final two races of the season at Hockenheimring on 8th and 9th October, the Tyrolean is in second place of the drivers’ standings, only eleven points down.

Raffaele Marciello, ADAC GT Masters, driver, MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF #48: “This weekend, we ran through our programme without any problems and we were rewarded with a pair of second places. I was able to extend my lead in the drivers’ standings and I am now looking ahead to the finale at Hockenheimring with a lot of confidence.”

Daniel Juncadella, ADAC GT Masters, driver, MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF #48: “For us, this was a great race weekend. The team has done a super job and I am happy that I was able to give maximum support to Lello in his battle for the title.”

Marvin Dienst, ADAC GT Masters, Mercedes-AMG Team ZvO #8: “Our victory today was simply just great. Thanks to the entire ZvO team that once again prepared a perfect car for us and was able to celebrate two wins this weekend.”

Jules Gounon, ADAC GT Masters, Drago Racing Team ZvO #4: “This was a weekend with mixed feelings. Yesterday, we were able to celebrate our third win of the season, that was fantastic. And today, we missed out on many points in the battle for the championship. After qualifying, we had one litre too little fuel in the tank. That was hard. In the race, it went very well until the bad luck with the pedal box. Today simply wasn’t our day.”

Fabian Schiller, ADAC GT Masters, Drago Racing Team ZvO #4: “We have shown a very good performance all weekend long. Victory on Saturday and then Jules’s fantastic time on Sunday morning: we definitely had the pace to dominate today’s race, too.”

Luca Stolz, DTM, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT #4: “The Sunday race really made up for the messed-up Saturday on which I only ended up in P10. With our early stop, we made the right strategic call and I then had a free drive. Tht was a real team achievement and I am really happy that I was able to secure another second place as the best-placed Mercedes-AMG.” 

Maro Engel, DTM, Fahrer Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing #88: “All in all, this was a very good weekend for us. We worked hard and adapted our car to the difficult conditions really well. Today’s pole position for me was super, I would have loved to convert it into a race win, but P3 is a strong result that we can all be happy with.”

Lucas Auer, DTM, driver, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD #22: “Fourth place on Saturday was like a victory for us. I am really glad that the mistake in the speed check was identified and everything was sorted. Today, it was initially very difficult with the rain. But we made a brave decision and opted for dry-weather tyres at the right time. With P6 today and second place in the championship, I am very happy. Now, I will fully focus on the finale at Hockenheimring.”