Mixed feelings determined the emotional state of the first weekend in October within the KÜS Team75 Bernhard from Landstuhl, while looking at the result of the seventh run of the ADAC GT Masters on the Sachsenring. While the Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting number 17 under Porsche works driver Simona De Silvestro (Switzerland) and Ex-Porsche-Junior Klaus Bachler (29) from Austria achieved a place in the top-ten of the "League of the super sports cars" with position nine, the sister car with starting number 18 under David Jahn (29) from Leipzig and Jannes Fittje (21) from Langenhain had to give up short before the end of the race due to a tire-damage. However, on Sunday, David and Jannes could gain at least two points. The sister car with starting number 17 - just repaired - had to quit after a collision.
Let us first take a look on the Saturday: In the hotly contested qualifying, 23 cars were within a single second, Klaus on the No. 17 missed the top-ten after two P2s in the free training sessions narrowly with place eleven. In the race, he held this position until the mandatory pit stop. Simona took over and at long last crossed the finish line with place nine. Jannes started the race with No. 18 from position 27, but received a five-second penalty right from the start for not having an entirely correct starting position. In 25th place he handed over to David. He had made up a few places shortly before the end of the race, but had to park his Porsche after a collision with a puncture through no fault of his own. David Jahn: “Overtaking is really only possible with a crowbar on this route. A competitor also tried that and struck me in the side!"
And thus the tire was flat. The qualifying of the Sunday race was interrupted because of a red flag. Finally, Simona started with the No. 17 from position 22. There was a proper chaos just in the starting lap, which caused a Safety-car-phase. But De Silvestro had stayed out of the chaos and could hand over to Klaus on position 14 at the obligatory pit stop. He had a contact with a competitor during an overtake and had to give up due to a damaged steering. David had achieved position 16 in the qualifying with the No. 18. After the start, his Porsche remained undamaged in the mess as well, and when the pit stop window opened, he was in eleventh place. Jannes took over; he lost positions in his stint, but was able to save two points with 14th place.
Comment from team boss Timo Bernhard: "We achieved two points with our starting number 18, also pointed in the junior rating. With No. 17, we really worked our way forward, were then unfortunately hit, which caused a damaged tie rod. What a shame, P7 would have been there. Now we concentrate on the next races." And this is going to take place at the Red Bull Ring in Austria at the Weekend of October 16th to 18th. But who won at the Sachsenring? On Saturday, Marvin Dienst and Philipp Frommenwiler from DLV-Team Schütz Motorsport with their Mercedes-AMG GT3 with starting number 36 were at the very top of the podium. On Sunday, the team of the Corvette C7 GT3-R by Callaway Competition cheered - Markus Pommer and Jeffrey Schmidt - about the victory of the league of the super sports cars. We wish a good start into the week!