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It was the hottest race weekend in the history of the ADAC GT Masters – and a very successful one for BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert: in temperatures of more than 38 degrees, Dominik Baumann (AT) and Jens Klingmann (DE) won the seventh race of the year in the number 80 BMW Z4 GT3 powered by HUAWEI, becoming the first pair of drivers to claim their second win of the year. The key to success were the team’s perfect pit-stop strategy, opting to come in and switch drivers as soon as the pit-stop window opened. The result of this masterstroke was that the duo climbed from fourth to first. Claudia Hürtgen (DE) and Uwe Alzen (DE) finished third in the number 19 car to complete an excellent team result on Saturday. 

It actually looked until the team from Oschersleben was set for a one-two until the final corner of the race, when Alzen eventually surrendered second place to Denmark’s Andreas Simonsen after a long battle in the final corner. However, that did not stop Alzen congratulating his rival for the spectacular overtaking manoeuvre he pulled off in the final seconds. The race was suspended just 12 minutes in for 53 minutes due to oil on the track, before restarting for a further 40 minutes. 

Baumann/Klingmann were knocking on the door of the podium again in Sunday’s eighth race of the season. With two minutes of the race remaining, Baumann overtook his compatriot Martin Ragginger (AT) to move into third. However, he was then forced to give the position back, as there had been contact during the overtaking manoeuvre. Baumann was unable to take third place from Ragginger again, and eventually had to settle for fourth. At the halfway point of the season, Baumann and Klingmann are currently third overall with 88 points, 58 points behind leaders Luca Ludwig (DE)/Sebastian Asch (DE). Hürtgen, who finished eighth with Alzen on Sunday, is sixth on 65 points. Alzen is now in eleventh place. The next race weekend takes place at the Nürburgring from 14th to 16th August. 

Timo Frings (Team Manager): “Although we would obviously have liked a one-two on Saturday, first and third from fourth and fifth on the grid is a great result. Uwe Alzen’s battle in the final corner was a great advertisement for GT racing, where the drivers battle hard but fairly with each other. The key to success was the early pit stops, after which we had a clear track. It was a shame that Dominik Baumann had to give back third place on Sunday. The penalty was perhaps a bit harsh. All in all, we continued our upwards trend.” 

Jens Klingmann (BMW Z4 GT3 powered by HUAWEI #80): “The early stop was the key to the win on Saturday. My engineer had told me beforehand to push really hard in the first two or three laps, which meant we came out in front of our rivals. I was happy to have a bit of a lead, as the car was tricky to drive at the end. It is a shame that Dominik had to give back the place on Sunday. I thought the manoeuvre was okay, actually. However, we scored plenty of points for fourth place too. After two wins on the last two weekends, we go into the summer break on a high and can, to a certain degree, forget the difficult start to the season.” 

Uwe Alzen (BMW Z4 GT3 #19): “I was happier with a place on the podium than I was sad about missing out on second place. That was a great manoeuvre by Andreas Simonsen. I would have done exactly the same thing. The fact that I ultimately lost out is down to me, but that is exactly the kind of manoeuvre people want to see. Despite this, I was happy to get my first podium finish in my third race in the ADAC GT Masters. We are heading in the right direction. Sunday showed that, when we had good pace and I set the second fastest lap of the race.”