• Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen secure third consecutive drivers' title for Landgraf Motorsport
• HRT wins Saturday's race at the Hockenheimring and celebrates team championship 
• Stefan Wendl: "Our teams have impressed with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 on every track."

Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing has successfully continued its ADAC GT Masters title streak. Tom Kalender (GER) and Elias Seppänen (FIN) claimed their eighth podium of the season in Saturday's race at the Hockenheimring, thus securing the drivers' championship ahead of Sunday's final race. Seppänen is the first driver in the history of the series to successfully defend the title. This is the third consecutive drivers' title for Landgraf Motorsport and Mercedes-AMG – another first in the GT Championship, which has been running since 2007. The Haupt Racing Team also repeated last year's success, winning the team title again, also ahead of schedule.

Promising situation for Mercedes-AMG teams ahead of Saturday's race
Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen arrived at the season finale as favourites with a 29-point lead and four race wins. The Haupt Racing Team was 55 points ahead of their closest rivals. However, the #11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 took centre stage in qualifying on Saturday. Marcel Marchewicz (GER) put the Schnitzelalm Racing entry, which was making a guest appearance for the second time this season, on pole position with a fastest lap time of 1m 48.879s. Tom Kalender underlined Landgraf Motorsport's championship ambitions with second place. Salman Owega (GER) started the one-hour Saturday race from third place with the #2 Haupt Racing Team car.

The race began with an early safety car period. After the restart, the three Mercedes-AMG GT3s were able to pull away from the rest of the field. Marchewicz confidently managed first place and handed the #11 over to his team-mate Jay Mo Härtling (GER) in second place after a late pit stop. Salman Owega and David Schumacher (GER) from Haupt Racing Team, who pitted early and inherited first place thanks to a successful undercut, went on to clinch their third win of the season. Third place was enough for Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen to win the drivers' championship early. Because Schnitzelalm Racing is not eligible for points as a guest entry, the Kalender/Seppänen duo received 20 championship points. Thanks to their next podium success, Kalender and Seppänen go into the final race on Sunday with a 41-point lead and are therefore out of reach. The Haupt Racing Team extended its lead in the team standings to 75 points and thus also secured the championship ahead of time.

The Hockenheimring will also host the final race of the 2024 ADAC GT Masters season tomorrow, Sunday. Five Mercedes-AMG GT3s will once again line up on the grid for the one-hour race, which starts at 15.15 CEST.
 

>> Race result ADAC GT Masters
>> Standings ADAC GT Masters

Mercedes-AMG statistics in ADAC GT Masters*
Fifth driver's championship for Mercedes-AMG (2012, 2015, 2022, 2023, 2024)
Fourth team championship for Mercedes-AMG (2012, 2018, 2023, 2024)
Third drivers' championship in a row for Landgraf Motorsport (2022, 2023, 2024)
Second drivers' championship in a row for Elias Seppänen (2023, 2024)
At 16 years, 6 months and 22 days, Tom Kalender is the youngest drivers' champion in the series' history
Five fastest race laps for Mercedes-AMG in the 2024 season (Oschersleben R2, Zandvoort R1, Nürburgring R2, Spa-Francorchamps R1, Hockenheimring R1)
Seven pole positions for Mercedes-AMG in the 2024 season (Oschersleben R2, Zandvoort R1, Nürburgring R2, Spa-Francorchamps R1, Spielberg R1, Spielberg R2, Hockenheimring R1)
Most successful Mercedes-AMG ADAC GT Masters season with eight wins and eleven further podiums
Four wins for Kalender/Seppänen: Oschersleben R2, Zandvoort R1, Spa-Francorchamps R1, Spielberg R1
Three wins for Owega/Schumacher: Nürburgring R1, Nürburgring R2, Hockenheimring R1
One win for Fittje/Wiebelhaus: Spielberg R1

*As things stand before the final race.

"It's great for us to be crowned ADAC GT Masters drivers' champion for the third time in a row and to make history in the process. No other manufacturer has achieved this in the 18 years of this championship. I therefore particularly enjoyed the podium ceremony today - with three Mercedes-AMG driver pairings on the podium and a driver and team title won early. Congratulations to our successful title defenders from Landgraf Motorsport and the Haupt Racing Team."
Christoph Sagemüller, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport

"Congratulations to Landgraf Motorsport, Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen on the drivers' championship and to the Haupt Racing Team on the team title. Together, they impressed on every track this year with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and represented our programme in the best possible way. The renewed success in both classifications once again shows the good work that our Customer Racing Teams are doing in developing young drivers."
Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing

"It feels fantastic to be the first driver to defend this championship. After it was very close at the end last season, it's a relief to have won this title early. Of course, I had even more confidence this year. We got off to a very good start to the season at Oschersleben and were able to maintain the momentum. Now the pressure is off and we can celebrate our great year in style."
Elias Seppänen, Landgraf Motorsport #1

"At the start of the season, I didn't expect us to become champions early. The team did a great job on every race weekend. Even though everything can never go completely to plan, we still made virtually no mistakes. That's why I'm just happy that we've achieved our goal and I'm looking forward to the last race tomorrow, when we'll be focussing on having fun driving."
Tom Kalender, Landgraf Motorsport #1

"I had to set good lap times at the start of my stint to make the undercut work. We were actually in first place after the pit stop window. I had some problems keeping up the pace on the final laps, but I really wanted to win the race. I'm glad that I brought the car home in first place. The fact that we also secured the team championship for HRT is obviously a great reward for our consistent performance."
David Schumacher, Haupt Racing Team #2