ADAC Moves Two Rounds to Avoid IGTC Clashes

Two of the rounds on next year’s ADAC GT Masters schedule have been moved to resolve a pair of date clashes with the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli.

Under the ADAC’s provisional 2021 calendar, GT Masters meetings were set conflict with the Suzuka 10 Hours in August and the Indianapolis 8 Hour in October.

The Zandvoort GT Masters round that originally clashed with Suzuka on Aug. 21-22 has been brought forward to Jul. 10-11, making it round three of the Germany-based series rather than round four.

The Hockenheim season finale has been moved from Oct. 16-17, which is the weekend of the IGTC’s second staging of the Indianapolis 8 Hour, to Oct. 23-24.

This ensures no clashes between GT Masters and SRO Motorsports Group’s primary international GT3 championship, while the new ADAC event dates also steer clear of any planned GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS meetings next year.

The move is set to enable teams and drivers to compete in both sets of series, avoiding the scenario seen this year when the Indianapolis 8 Hour occurred on the same weekend as the GT Masters event at the Sachsenring, creating logistical issues for manufacturers.

Additionally, GT Masters has confirmed that it will hold a pre-season test at Oschersleben on Apr. 19-21.

“The ADAC GT Masters and Stephane Ratel’s SRO Motorsports Group have worked together successful for many years now,” said ADAC sporting president Hermann Tomczyk.

“We are pleased that we are gradually intensifying our partnership.

“We feel that it is very important to coordinate our calendars of events so that teams and drivers can take part in the world’s most important GT3 races without any clashes, and we managed it.”

The ADAC will continue to implement SRO’s global Balance of Performance system next year in GT Masters and ADAC GT4 Germany.

SRO announced its provisional calendar in September and made a handful of updates at the Total 24 Hours of Spa in October. The date of next year’s IGTC Kyalami 9 Hour is still to be confirmed, as is the location of the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup season finale.

“Through the close ties we have established over recent years our working relationship with the ADAC GT Masters continues to grow stronger,” said Ratel.

“Firstly, I am pleased that they will once again use our Balance of Performance criteria for GT3 and GT4 cars next season.

“Aligning calendars was a natural decision and we thank the ADAC for its efforts to ensure that teams and drivers can compete in three major championships without facing any clashes.

“Many competitors are already familiar in both paddocks and I hope that through this initiative we can forge even greater links between our series.”