Weekly Racing Roundup (6.14.21)

SSR Porsche Pairing’s Points Lead Extends

Mathieu Jaminet and Michael Ammermueller extended their ADAC GT Masters points lead with a win and a sixth-place finish in round two of the season at the Red Bull Ring.

In front of fans for the first time this year, the SSR Performance duo added to their win at the Oschersleben curtain-raiser in an entertaining 60-minute contest on Saturday.

Ammermueller ran third in the opening stint behind Raffaele Marciello’s HTP-Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and Nick Yelloly in the Schubert Motorsport BMW M6 GT3.

Yelloly then dropped a wheel on the gravel which caused rear suspension damage to the British driver’s car, forcing him to retire from the lead.

New leader Marciello handed over to Maximilian Buhk at the pit window, but Jaminet was bearing down at the start of the second stint. The SSR driver eventually moved ahead with a terrific multi-corner pass that ended at the Rauch left-hander.

GRT Grasser Racing’s Albert Costa and Callaway Competition’s Marvin Kirchhoefer got past Buhk in the final stint to complete the podium.

In race two, Kirchhoefer and Jeffrey Schmidt won in their Chevrolet Corvette C7 GT3-R. The race was halted for 45 minutes after a heavy accident for Maro Engel on the run out of Turn 1, following a touch from an Audi. Engel walked away from the crash.

Kirchhoeffer overtook pole-sitter Dennis Marschall at the start and maintained the lead through to the driver swaps, after which Schmidt held off Marschall’s Rutronik Racing Audi teammate Kim Luis Schramm for the win.

Jaminet and Ammermueller finished sixth to open up a 16-point championship lead over Costa and Bortolotti, who finished second and fourth in the Austrian races.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2  / Points

***Inception Racing has added another race to its already packed 2021 program, in the form of a guest appearance at the Silverstone 500 British GT long-distance round later this month. The Optimum Motorsport-run team will field a McLaren 720S GT3 for Ollie Millroy and Brendan Iribe. The pair also raced at Silverstone last year.

***Former Lamborghini factory driver Dennis Lind replaced Charles Weerts in Team WRT’s crew for GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring, due to the Audi Sport driver being absent to take his university exams. Lind and Dries Vanthoor finished fifth in race one.

***Michael Schrey and Gabriele Piana continued their blistering early-season form in ADAC GT4 Germany by sweeping the Red Bull Ring weekend in their Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport BMW M4 GT4. They are now four-from-four so far in 2021. Jan Marschalkowski and Theo Nouet were second on both occasions in a Zakspeed Mercedes-AMG GT4. Race 1 / Race 2

***Neil Foster and Jonny Reid took a five-point lead in the New Zealand-based North Island Endurance Series heading into the season finale. The Audi R8 LMS GT3 drives won the second one-hour race of round three at Taupo, beating Aston Martin pair Alex Riberas and Darren Kelly. Glenn Smith and John De Veth took race one honors in a McLaren 650S GT3. Results

***Team Virage won the three-hour Ultimate Cup Series prototype race at Dijon with a Ligier JS P320 Nissan driven by Julian Wagg, Miguel Cristovao and Mathis Poulet. The four-hour GT enduro went the way of Franck Thybaud and Eric Cayrolle who shared a Renault RS.01 prepared by AB Sport Auto.

***SRO Motorsports group “continues to work closely” with the Belgian authorities and Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps about the possibility for spectators to attend next month’s 24 Hours of Spa, which will be known as the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa following a rebrand of oil company and event title sponsor Total. An SRO statement on Monday said an announcement regarding fan access will be made “in due course”.

On this Weekend: Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup (Zandvoort), DTM (Monza), International GT Open (Spa)