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BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert claimed its third one-two in the history of the ADAC GT Masters. Dominik Baumann (AT) and Jens Klingmann (DE) in the number 80 BMW Z4 GT3 powered by HUAWEI came home ahead of team-mates Claudia Hürtgen (DE) and Uwe Alzen (DE) in the number 19 car to claim victory in Saturday’s race at the sixth of eight race weekends. The team had previously finished first and second at the Sachsenring in 2013 and the Slovakiaring in 2014. 

Claudia Hürtgen achieved a first in the ADAC GT Masters in the morning, when she became the first woman in the history of the series to secure pole position. Dominik Baumann qualified third. After Baumann immediately moved into second place behind Hürtgen at the start, the team from Oschersleben’s two cars controlled proceedings at the front of the field. They were helped by a safety car period during the pit stop window. At the start of the final lap, Jens Klingmann overtook team-mate Uwe Alzen to claim a third win of the season for him and Baumann, and their seventh success in the GT Masters. 

Having climbed temporarily into second place in the overall standings courtesy of victory on Saturday, Baumann/Klingmann had to settle for 13th place in qualifying for race two, which was held on the Sunday of the race for the first time. The second Schubert car started one place back in 14th. In the race, Baumann/Klingmann were able to climb into eighth place thanks to a good pit strategy, for which they were rewarded with four points. They did drop back to third place in the standings with 130 points, but are now only eight points behind second-placed Klaus Bachler, having trailed by 20 points coming into the weekend. Baumann/Klingmann cut the gap to leaders Sebastian Asch/Luca Ludwig from 50 to 31 points, thus keeping alive their hopes of winning the title with two race weekends remaining in Zandvoort (NL, 18th – 20th September) and Hockenheim (DE, 2nd – 4th October). Claudia Hürtgen is fifth overall with 91 points. Uwe Alzen is eighth with 73 points. 

Timo Frings (Team Manager): “It was a perfect weekend with one slight downer. After the very good performance on Saturday, we expected more from race two. However, we were at least able to limit the damage with eighth place for Dominik Baumann and Jens Klingmann. We will now go all out on the attack up to the final race in Hockenheim as we set our sights on the title. Saturday saw a superb effort from Claudia Hürtgen and Uwe Alzen, and it is always a very special experience for a team to claim a one-two. Thank you very much to our mechanics, who put Claudia and Uwe’s car back together after the crash at the Nürburgring. The drivers paid them back.” 

Claudia Hürtgen (BMW Z4 GT3 #19): “Pole was very important for me, as I have often come very close but missed out by a few hundredths or thousandths of a second. Everything fell into place on that lap, and the difficult conditions definitely helped. Pole was also a nice present for our mechanics, who put our car back together. I had a good start to the race and extended my lead. Unfortunately, however, the safety car then made an appearance. In the end, we came away with a one-two for the team. We can be very happy with that.” 

Jens Klingmann (BMW Z4 GT3 powered by HUAWEI #80): “Dominik laid the foundations on Saturday with a good qualifying, and also in the first stint in the race. I was a bit confused immediately after the driver changeover, as I did not initially know where the safety car was and did not have any radio. Then I saw Uwe Alzen and the safety car in front of me. I had the same speed as Uwe, but at the end he played ball and allowed us to score maximum points towards the championship. We were extremely happy with the result. On Sunday, we were actually just as quick in qualifying as we were on Saturday – only all the others were unfortunately quicker. We were a bit puzzled by that. We got the most possible out of the race, so we are still right in the race for the championship. Zandvoort should suit us, and we must attack again there.”