• Race two: 2nd place for Toksport WRT (#22) 
• Race one: 6th place for KNAUS Team HTP-WINWARD (#48)  
• Maro Engel and Luca Stolz in third place of ADAC GT Masters points’ standings

At temperatures around zero degrees, Maro Engel (GER) secured himself a good starting grid position with third place in the #22 Toksport WRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the 200^th race at the Red Bull Ring in qualifying on Sunday morning. The start around lunch time, however, didn’t go too well for him: Engel’s car was squeezed in and he lost three positions on the opening lap. With a perfectly timed overtaking manoeuvre, he claimed back fifth place, but had to give it up again just before the end of his stint. The pit stop brought about the change in the duel for a podium result. The team executed the change from Engel to teammate Luca Stolz almost exactly within the required minimum time, so that Stolz was able to take on the decisive stage of the race in fourth place. After an opponent in front of the Toksport WRT duo had incurred a ten-second penalty, Stolz theoretically was in third position. Still, he was under attack from the rivals behind him, but he managed to keep the opposition at bay until crossing the finish line at the 4.3 kilometres long track. Taking into account the imposed time penalties, this initially equalled third place in the classification. However, the Toksport WRT team submitted a protest against the classification of the race because of a manoeuvre they considered to unfair. This was accepted, so that the car with starting number 22 was promoted to second place. With its fifth podium result of the season, Engel and Stolz move up to third in the drivers’ standings and, only six points down on the championship leaders, still have all the chances in the battle for the title with four races remaining.

The KNAUS Team HTP-WINWARD with Raffaele Marciello (ITA) and Philip Ellis (SUI) ended up in tenth place in the race on Sunday. After a strong start, in which Marciello made up five positions, moving up from twelfth to seventh, the team incurred a ten-second penalty that it had to serve during the pit stop.

The #20 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing and the #47 HTP-WINWARD Motorsport sister car concluded the race with 15^th and 16^th place respectively.

In the first of this weekend’s two races, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams were able to secure important points for the hard-fought championship. In qualifying for the Saturday race, Philip Ellis (SUI) coped best of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 drivers with the cool and slightly damp conditions. With the #48 KNAUS Team HTP-WINWARD car, he started the race in fifth place. In the close position fights in the opening stages, he was unable to keep his position and eventually handed the car to teammate Raffaele Marciello (ITA) in seventh place. In the ranking, corrected for pit stops, the FIA GT World Cup winner started the second half of the race from eighth place. In the final 15 minutes of the race, Marciello once again charged forward and made two successful overtaking moves. After the retirement of an opponent just before the end, he was fifth across the finish line. However, the officials demoted the team to sixth because of exceeding track limits. Other teams scoring points were Toksport WRT (#22) in tenth and the HTP-WINWARD sister car (#47) that with drivers Indy Dontje (NED) and Maximilian Götz (GER) ended up 13^th after making up ten positions during the race. For the #36 DLV-Team Schütz Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3, the weekend was over seven laps into the race on Saturday. In fierce duels in the opening stage of the race, the car was damaged so badly that the team was unable to take part in the race on Sunday. On Saturday morning, the Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing had already been forced to withdraw the #21 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Maro Engel, Toksport WRT (#22): “We are massively delighted with our podium finish today! Many thanks to the entire team that has done a tremendous job. Traditionally, the Red Bull Ring doesn’t particularly suit us, but the Mercedes-AMG GT3 was fantastic to drive, both in qualifying and in the race. Many thanks also to Luca who drive a strong second stint. In the first part of the race, there were hard battles with a positive outcome for us. In the drivers’ standings, we have now come closer again. Now, we have four thrilling races ahead of us. At Lausitzring, we hope for an equally strong weekend as at the start of the season. We will do our utmost to bring the championship to Affalterbach.”

Raffaele Marciello, KNAUS Team HTP-WINWARD (#48): “We knew that the Red Bull Ring doesn’t particularly suit us. Still, our pace this weekend wasn’t bad. But at the end of the day, we didn’t achieve the results we had hoped for, also due to the penalty that were imposed on us. The track limits issue was difficult to handle for race control, that is something that needs to be considered for the future.”