News

The first two races of the 2015 ADAC GT Masters are over: Schubert Motorsport started the season with two top-five finishes at its home round at Oschersleben (DE). The “Motorsport Arena Oschersleben” is literally the home of Torsten Schubert’s squad, with the team’s headquarters located only a few hundred metres away from the race track. 

In race one on Saturday, the two Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3s crossed the line in fifth and sixth. Jens Klingmann (DE) and Dominik Baumann (AT) finished fifth in the number 80 BMW Z4 GT3 powered by HUAWEI. They were followed across the line by Claudia Hürtgen (DE) and Jesse Krohn (FI), who came home sixth in the number 19 sister car. In the second race, held on Sunday, Hürtgen and Krohn put in a strong fight-back: coming from 13th on the grid, they worked their way through the field and eventually finished fifth, while Klingmann/Baumann were seventh. For Krohn, Oschersleben was a one-off guest appearance in the ADAC GT Masters: the 2014 BMW Motorsport Junior stood in for regular driver Uwe Alzen (DE). Alzen will share the car with Hürtgen from the second race-weekend on, which will be held at the Red Bull Ring (AT) from 5th to 7th June. 

Timo Frings (Team Manager):
“It was great to finally start the season after the intensive preparations for it. We have not been entirely satisfied with the ‘balance of performance’, but we made the best of the situation. Our drivers and the team did a superb job, so we succeeded in collecting some important points despite this disadvantage. We are satisfied with P6 and P5 for our number 19 BMW Z4 GT3. Claudia and our guest-starter Jesse put in a strong performance and got the maximum out of it. On this occasion, I also want to thank Jesse for his commitment. For Jens and Dominik much more would have been on the cards, especially on Sunday, but the two were, in our opinion, deprived of their well-deserved rewards by an inexplicable five-second penalty. That was a pity, as they would have achieved a top result otherwise. However, our overall summary of the weekend is a very positive one. We have seen that with our drivers and our team we are in a very good position and are confident for the season. But for now, we are looking forward to our next important event: the 24-hour race at Nürburgring in the middle of May, which we will tackle with our two BMW Z4 GT3s.” 

Jesse Krohn (BMW Z4 GT3 Number 19):
“First of all, a big ‘thank you‘ goes to Schubert Motorsport for giving me the opportunity to drive here. I enjoyed it very much and learnt a lot. We progressed constantly over the weekend and it was a great reward to fight our way up to fifth in race two from 13th on the grid. Overall, it was a good weekend and I was extremely impressed by Claudia. She is very professional and the best team-mate you could wish for.”

Jens Klingmann (BMW Z4 GT3 powered by HUAWEI Number 80):
“Our target for Oschersleben was to start the season with a decent amount of points as at the season opener, due to its characteristics, this track suits us less than other circuits. We have succeeded in this. As a team, we had prepared well for the season, and also qualifying went well with us claiming third and seventh on the grid. We were satisfied with race one, too. We made no mistakes and stayed out of trouble. Also race two started brilliantly, and I was able to improve by several positions. We then, however, had a set back due to a five-second penalty, which we had to sit out during the pit stop. The race organisers believed I was too tough when I had to defend my position against another competitor in turns one and two. I personally considered the penalty was not justified, as we hardly touched. But, of course, I accepted the penalty. Due to it, we briefly dropped back to 12th, but in the end we still finished seventh and collected some points with that result. Overall, I am happy with the weekend and now I am looking forward to the Red Bull Ring. There we will attack again.”