Disappointment for many AMR crews in opening ADAC GT4 Germany race at Oschersleben
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Entering this season as defending Champions, the #1 Prosport Racing car of Mike David-Ortmann and Hugo Sasse were immediately upon the back foot having Qualified only sixth within the field of twenty-nine cars. The #007 Doer Motorsport car of Ben Dorr (and Theo Nouet) was next in also a disappointing (for them) P11 with the Bachmann family car of Jessica and Andreas close behind in P12 despite their ongoing technical issues through Free Practice and Qualifying.
The #13 all female Prosport car of Celia Martin and Fabienne Wohlwend was P24 whilst the late line up of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Canadian Daman aboard the #48 Prosport car was the last of the runners having suffered fuel pump issues during the Ukrainians Qualifying run as well.
The start proved to relive past woe for the Prosport team going into the opening lap as the #1 was sideswiped by the #34 BMW of former AMR series running Nico Hantke, breaking the #1 cars steering and thumping Ortmann into the barrier for an immediate DNF.
After the Safety Car cleared up that mess, the race did at least progress into the competitive cut and thrust manner that the series is renowned for with the #007 Dorr car being followed by the #19 of Jess Bachmann with the young Swede matching the slightly older German for pace but neither had the speed to either catch or compete with the multitude of Mercedes AMG GT4 and BMW M4 GT4’s ahead.
With a further FCY obscuring a clean opening to the mandatory pit window, both the #007 (now with Nouet) and the #19 car (now with Andreas Bachmann) aboard emerged still line astern despite pitting upon differing laps. The #48 of Sokolovskiy would continue to struggle with technical issues for the Ukrainian to call it a day even before they had reached halfway.
The race would eventually conclude with the #007 car finishing in P15 and the #13 all women car in P21 after the #19 car suffered late technical issues of their own despite having ran so strongly for much of the race. Their debut into the ADAC GT4 Germany Series would end in the gravel with the race being concluded around them.
Clearly there are many issues to remedy, particularly within the Prosport Racing team with accident damage to the #1 car on ongoing issues with the #19 and #48 cars. For the Doer team – they just need a bit more pace is they (or any Aston Martin) is to compete in tomorrow’s second hour long race.
Photo credits – ADAC
