Six drivers join both TF Sport and Northwest AMR for the WEC Rookie Test
Another interesting selection of candidates from both teams with TF Sport running their #33 AMR Vantage GTE for Asian Le Mans Series and European Le Mans teenage racer Finn Gehrsitz sharing the Four Horseman’s sponsored car with IMSA GTD racer Ryan Hardwick.
The #98 Northwest AMR car meanwhile will be split between four drivers with former FIA F3 racer and last time Aston Martin Autosport Driver of the Year winner Jonathon Hoggard sharing track time along side ADAC GT4 Germany racer Indy Dontjie and former GT4 America/Michelin Pilot Challenge AMR racer Patrick Gallagher as well as Porsche Supercup and Carrera Cup racer Lorcan Hanafin joining the fray.
Photo credits – A Lofthouse / D Gibson / N Dungan
Saturday, November 12, 2022 |
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An Aston Martin sure to win something at the ADAC GT4 Germany finale this weekend
Having completed five similar events up until now, this weekend’s finale sees the #24 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse lead the overall Drivers Championship from the #7 Dorr Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 of Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux by twenty points with the #7 car just three points ahead of its sister #69 Dorr car of brother Phil Dorr and Indy Dontjie.
There is also a similar battle within the series Junior Class as Sasse leads both Leroux and Ben Dorr by twenty-four points but with the Dorr team leading the Team Championship from the Prosport Racing squad by twenty points with just two races remaining.
Obviously from this, it is simply a case of which AMR powered crew and which AMR powered team will win!!
With the entry list detailing another twenty-six-car entry, eight of those will again be the AMR Vantage GT4 with furthers crews from Racing One, Prosport Racing and the Dorr Motorsport teams all taking part.
Tom Wood and Euan McKay race out their final round together having started so well together earlier in the year before becoming the victim of technical woe and other peoples accidents along the way to enter this final event down in tenth place. We then have the two further Dorr entries for Simon Connor Primm and Nico Hantke within the #95 car and twins Sandro and Juliano Holzem who complete their first year in GT4 racing having stepped up from karting together.
That leaves the #48 Prosport Racing entry of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Ivan Peklin who race together for the first time ahead of their AMR Vantage GT3 entry into next week’s FIA Motorsport Games event from Paul Ricard under the banner of Team Ukraine.
Photo Credits – Team / Series
Photo Credits – Team / Series
Tuesday, October 18, 2022 |
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AMR powered dominance in ADAC GT4 Germany leaves a three car Vantage shoot out for top honours at season finale
Coming into this fifth round of six, had the #69 Dorr Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 of Phil Dorr and Indy Dontjie leading the series but with two superb drives from first the #24 Prosport Racing AMR of Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse as well as from the #007 Dorr car of brother Ben Dorr with Romain Leroux saw a complete reversal of fortunes with the #24 car now leading the Championship with the #69 crew with just a mathematical chance of securing the ultimate prize for their efforts by the end of the final round of the series at Hockenheim in four weeks’ time.
In Saturdays hour long opener, it was the #24 Prosport who literally lead the way around the undulating track of the Sachsenring with Ortmann having earlier claimed pole before translating that into a robust display of race craft with his younger co-driver sealing a lights to flag win, beating their #007 championship rivals who finished just off the podium in fourth.
Under the overcast skies of Sunday, it was the turn of Indy Dontjie to claim pole position in his #69 car just ahead of the #24 car of Sasse where he showed enough speed to keep the #24 car firmly behind. Trouble for one Aston Martin came just about the time of the opening of the pit stop window as the Trophy classed #48 Prosport car of Christopher Rohner tangled with the Theo Nouet driven Mercedes AMG GT4 to leave the German with front suspension damage in the gravel and short of any repeat of another class podium for his co-driver Yevgen Sokolovskiy.
With Leroux pitting early but the front two later, the turning point of the race came as Ortmann was able to pass the pit lane exiting Phil Dorr for the race lead thanks to his faster out lap against the #69 cars pitstop time.
Having already lost the lead to the #24 car, Phil Dorr would soon have brother Ben pushing hard for position when the #007 car finally did pass for second with just ten minutes remaining.
Finishing under local yellows for another car smashed into the wall, Sundays race would finish with an AMR 1-2-3-4 with the #24 taking another double to take the lead in the Championship with the #007 Dorr car in second, the #69 Dorr car in third and with the #95 Dorr car of Simon Connor-Primm and Nico Hantke getting their best result so far in fourth.
Championship wise, with just one round/two races and a maximum of fifty points being available, Hockenheim’s finale will witness a straightforward three-way battle between eth #24 Prosport car of Ortmann/Sasse on 154 points, the #007 Dorr car of Ben Dorr/Romain Leroux on 134 points and Ben Dorr/Indy Dontjie who are on 131 points.
It couldn’t be any closer if it tried.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 Germany
Monday, September 26, 2022 |
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All to play for in the ADAC GT4 Germany Series as three AMR crews head the order into their penultimate round
This weekend’s visit to the Sachenring in the former East Germany will be pivotable to all these crews should the want to be in Championship contention by the time the series reaches its finale at Hockenheim on the third weekend of October.
Presently in the overall table, the #69 Dorr Motorsport AMR Vantage GT4 crew of Indy Dontjie and Phil Dorr lead the way on 105 points with the #24 Prosport Racing AMR Vantage GT4 crew of Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse immediately behind on 104 points, closely followed by the #7 Dorr Motorsport AMR of Roman Leroux and Ben Dorr on 101 points.
Into that, you can also add in the inter AMR battle within the Junior Class with Sasse heading the way on 136 points and Leroux and Ben Dorr tied in second on 122 points each as well as Dorr Motorsport leading the Team battle ahead of the Prosport Racing team with just a 37-point advantage!!
This weekend’s twenty-nine car entry again sees another eight Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crews take to the track, one from the Racing One team for British drivers Tom Wood and Euan McKay, with a further three from the Prosport Racing team and four from the Dorr Motorsport team.
Whilst many enjoy their performances and championship positions so far, for some it has been a trying transition to both the GT4 platform and the series with many of those still showing potential without being able to confirm that in their results so far. Due to a clash with the DTM Trophy Series this weekend (?), we also do not see the #99 Team Speed Monkey AMR that Paul Aural König shared with Konstantin Lachenauer after their double DNF at the Nurburgring back in early August.
Two one-hour pit stop punctuated races await the grid again round a circuit made up of never ending bends with a couple of long straights – enough to suit all sorts of preferences.
Both races will be streamed live via the series social media channels.
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Tuesday, September 20, 2022 |
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A revised nine AMR Vantage GT4 car effort gets ready for ADAC GT4 Germany from the Nurburgring
For the nine Aston Martin Racing powered teams that entered round three, it was an emphatic display from the #24 PROsport Racing car of Mike David-Ortmann and Hugo Sasse who converted two outright pole positions into two overall race wins to elevate themselves up the Drivers Championship leader board.
There were also further podium finishes for the #7 Dorr Motorsport Aston Martin of Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux who finished just behind the #24 car each time as well as the #48 PROsport Racing car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Christopher Rohner who finished third and second in their own Trophy class.
This time around in Germany, we still see nine Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s but with a small twist in who.
This time around in Germany, we still see nine Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s but with a small twist in who.
Having raced at Zandvoort as a one-off, the Team Speed Monkeys car of Jacob Riegel and Marc de Fulgencio is not amongst this weekend’s provisional entry list (obviously), but the numbers have been made up with a third car from PROsport Racing.
Again, we see both the #24 and #48 full season cars as listed above, but we also see the addition of another (as yet) un-numbered car for German drivers Leon Wassertheurer and Donar Munding. Wassertheurer is already a contender within the ADAC GT4 Germany Series having competed with the W&S Motorsport team in one of their Porsche’s whilst Munding steps across to GT4’s for the first time having competed previously in various LMP3 series.
Other returning entries include the #99 Team Speed Monkeys car of Paul Aural König and Konstantin Lachenauer after their series debut together in Holland, the #6 Racing One entry from Tom Wood and Euan McKay as well as the remaining Dorr entries for #69 Phil/Indy Dontjie, #95 Simon Connor Prim/Nico Hantke and the #97 car for brothers Sandro/Juliano Holzem.
Championship wise, Phil Dorr and Dontjie still lead the overall table by five points from both Sasse/David-Ortmann and Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux with Wood/McKay some thirty-one points behind them.
In the Junior Class, Sasse leads Leroux and Ben Dorr by six with Sokolovskiy in joint third in the Trophy class with Dorr Motorsport thirty points ahead of PROsport Racing the teams table.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 Germany / Teams
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 Germany / Teams
Tuesday, August 02, 2022 |
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Rounding off the ADAC GT4 Germany Series visit to Zandvoort
Rounding off the action from the third round of the ADAC GT4 Series from Zandvoort at the weekend strangely saw little more Aston Martin success beyond that of the PROsport Racing success at the front of the pack and that in the Trophy class.
This time featuring nine AMR Vantage GT4 powered teams with the introduction of the cars from the Team Speed Monkeys squad for the first time, Saturday’s first hour long race also only proved successful for the #7 Dorr Motorsport AMR of Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux who managed to hang on to the coat tails of the #24 PROsport Racing car of Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann to claim a 1-2 for the marque.
Strangely enough and despite the radical change in track conditions between the rain of Saturday and the Sun of Sunday, the #7 crew duplicated that result again on Sunday – again following the #24 PROsport car for another 1-2 finish which takes Dorr/Leroux up to third in the overall Championship table so far.
Holland proved itself to be a frustrating mistress for many of the other AMR crews including that of the #6 Racing One crew of Tom Wood and Euan McKay who suffered greatly in the changing conditions of Saturday having pitted early but remained on slicks but then improved themselves for a P8 finish in race 2.
The two Team Speed Monkeys crews of (#63) Jacob Riegel / Marc de Fulgencio and (#99) Paul Aural-König and Konstantin Lachenaur both returned a solid audition in the Series together with the #63 improving over the weekend from P20 to P18 and with the #99 car a few places ahead in P14/15 thanks to their prior series knowledge.
The #69 Dorr Motorsport entry of Phil Dorr and Indy Dontjie surprisingly failed to capitalise upon the change in conditions of Saturday, eventually finishing P12 after the red flag, weather related stop and then fifth on Sunday – results which narrowed their lead in the overall Championship.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4
Monday, June 27, 2022 |
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Nine Astons due for third round of ADAC GT4 Germany from Zandvoort
Sporting an equally high number of Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 runners as the FFSA GT4 Series this weekend will be the ADAC GT4 Germany Series as they travel to the Dutch coastal circuit of Zandvoort for their third round of the season.
Since the last round of the series from the Red Bull Ring about a month ago, we have since learned that the Team Speed Monkeys squad have now entered a pair of their own Aston Martins for the remainder of the season alongside those from the Dorr Motorsport, PROsport Racing and Racing One teams.
That takes the ADAC GT4 Germany AMR headcount to nine out of the provisional entry list of twenty-seven cars for this weekend’s two races.
Last time out proved to be successful for many of the AMR runners with the #48 PROsport car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Christopher Rohner securing a pair of P3 finishes in their Trophy Class, whilst the #7 Dorr car of Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux secured a Junior Class win in race 1 whilst the #69 Dorr car of Phil Dorr and Indy Dontjie and the #6 Racing One car of Tom Wood and Euan McKay secured P2 and P3 respectively in race 2.
Those results have Dontjie and P Dorr holding the overall lead by nine points over last season’s champions with both Wood/McKay and B Dorr/Leroux a bit further back in P3 and P4 whilst in the Junior Class, B Dorr and Leroux lie in second but some fourteen points behind. The Dorr Motorsport team also lead the Team’s Championship battle by twenty-nine points.
Mike David-Ortmann and Hugo Sasse complete the PROsport Racing line up with Nico Hantke/Simon Connor Primm and Sandro and Juliano Holzem complete the Dorr Motorsport quartet.
Newcomers, Team Speed Monkeys see Paul Aurel-Konig finally swap over from his Porsche entry to partner Konstantin Lachenauer aboard their #99 car whilst Jacob Riegel partners fellow DTM Trophy racer Marc de Fulgencio aboard their #63 car.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 / Teams
Thursday, June 23, 2022 |
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Aston Martin success mixed amongst the carnage of the ADAC GT4 Germanys visit to Austria
Having kicked off in Oschersleben a month ago with four podiums across the overall, Junior and Trophy classes, the seven AMR Vantage crews from the Doer Motorsport, Prosport Racing and Racing One teams again all looked to harness the performances of last time out for the undulating circuit of the Red Bull Ring.
Again, it was the four entries from the Doer Team who set the early pace ahead of Saturday’s opening hour long race with the #007 car of Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux claiming a P3 start just ahead of their #95 car of Nico Hantke (with Simon Connor Primm) and the #69 car of Indy Dontjie (with Phil Dorr) in P6 and P7 respectively. The two Prosport Racing cars would again compete in both the Junior and Trophy class with the #24 car of Mike David Ortmann (with Hugo Sasse) starting from P9 after the double podium event from Oschersleben whilst Christopher Rohner and Yevgen Sokolovskiy looked for their firs Trophy Class podium with their #48 car with their P28 starting slot.
Tom Wood and Euan McKay qualified lower down than otherwise expected in P14 for the #6 Racing One crew after they so very nearly won the last race overall, being only pipped to that P1 honour on the very last lap of Oschersleben last time out. Brothers Sandro and Juliano Holzem completed the AMR entry with their #97 Doer Motorsport car that would start P21.
Overnight rain had passed but the track was warm and dry ahead of Saturdays race as the grid thundered towards the tight right hand turn of Turn 1 but contact between many within the pack saw a Mercedes AMG GT4 grind to a halt at the top of the hill with a blue #6 Aston Martin of Tom Wood slowly traversing the circuit with obviously deranged front suspension. Safety Car for the debris field and a sad and obvious retirement for the Derbyshire racer.
Good starts from the Astons to the front of the grid saw Leroux hang on to P3 overall for all of his stint as a mistake from Hantke saw him go off track and drop well done the order as a result with damage to his car.
Good starts from the Astons to the front of the grid saw Leroux hang on to P3 overall for all of his stint as a mistake from Hantke saw him go off track and drop well done the order as a result with damage to his car.
Cycling through the midway pits stops, and it was the Prosport team who blinked first bringing in their #24 from P7 ahead of the others in the hope of finding track position for Sasse but quickly followed by the rest.
The #97 Holzem car would suffer brake issues as the race progressed as lap after lap the #97 would lock its front wheels eventually leading to its retirement from the race but by the end of the race, the #007 crew would deserve their P2 overall and P1 in Junior Class finish with the #69 Dontjie/Dorr car eventually settling from where they started in P7. The #24 Prosport car would finish P10, the #95 Connor Primm/Hantke car would recover to P16 and the #48 Prosport car would indeed earn their first Trophy Class podium in P21 – P3 in class!!
For Sundays second race of the weekend, it was the #95 of Connor Primm who stole the headlines by claiming overall pole position ahead of the #007 car in P3 and the #6 Racing One car of McKay in P6 as the Dorr brothers ended the round 1-2 in the overall championship standings with their respective co-drivers.
This time a clean start and opening laps of the second race saw Connor Primm maintain his lead from the chasing pack just before a sizeable accident for the sister #97 car brought out the Safety Car for the first time in race 2. Then in P21, side to side contact from a KTM Cross Bow spun Sandro Holzem hard into the armco barrier on the inside to T1 to rip off a front wheel and cause further and extensive damage to their car. Thankfully the driver was OK and walked away from the wreck.
Ten minutes was lost to that incident but on the restart and it was just two corners later that the Safety Car was required again – this time for a stranded Mercedes on track having lost power after the climb to the top of the hill.
Restart number two and this time a mistake from Connor Primm surrendered his race lead as he dropped to P3 after a mistake going into the final corner and up to P2 for #007 as a result just before the pit stop window opened.
Pit stops over and an error from the #48 PROsport crew saw them visit the penalty box for the first time for undercutting pits top minimum time whilst the #007 had dropped to P3 and the #69 and #6 cars held P7 and P8 respectively.
Trouble would again visit the AMR camp as damage to the #95 car saw Hantke drop out of contention early into his sting before the #24 Prosport car was unceremoniously punted out of the race by a spinning Porsche going into T1 – was the #24 actually the cause of this having pushed the #22 car wide at the final corner is up for debate but the result was that both cars were out.
Further trouble due to damage was to befall the #007 car of Leroux who (unseen) had also damaged his cars radiators to lose power and eventually the engine with fifteen minutes still to go. Unfortunately for the race, this period then descended into near chaos as incident after incident brought out the Safety Car again as cars kept hitting each other or went off track and into the gravel.
As a result of this, the #69 Doer car of Phil Dorr and Indy Dontjie all moved up the order and claimed a warranted P2 overall whilst the #6 car of Tom Wood made up for his race 1 mistake to come home P3 as well. The #48 Prosport was the only other Aston Martin finisher in that race!!
A great race, great venue – just a little too much contact and damage!!
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Monday, May 23, 2022 |
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Seven AMR Vantage GT4s to race again at Red Bull Ring in ADAC GT4 Germany
The opening round of the season at Oschersleben at the end of April was successful for many of these entries as that weekend’s two races produced three podium finishes between them per race with the best performances coming from both the #24 PROsport Racing and #69 Dorr Motorsport cars.
The #24 car of Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse claimed a P3 and P2 in the Junior class over the weekend whilst the #69 car of Phil Dorr and Indy Dontjie went one better by claiming an overall P1 and then a P3 over that weekend.
Further podiums were also secured by the #7 Dorr car of Ben Dorr and Romain Leroux in race 1 and then an overall P2 finish for the #6 Racing One Aston Martin of Tom Wood and Euan McKay, so narrowly a race win for them in that race.
Two further Dorr Motorsport Aston Martins of Nico Hantke and Simon Connor Primm and brothers Sandro and Juliano Holzem with a further PROsport Racing car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Christopher Rohner complete the AMR line up going into races three and four of the season.
Photo credits – Team / ADAC
Tuesday, May 17, 2022 |
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A worthy visit to Oschersleben for the Aston Martin Racing teams at ADAC GT4 Germany opener
Opening the weekend with a front row lockout for Saturday’s opening one hour race had brothers Phil and Ben Dorr occupy the front row of the grid with their two, family team prepared cars with only the Prosport Racing AMR of Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse joining them within the top 10.
Still under bright skies and warm sunshine, the Dorr brothers were able to hold position during the opening corners of the Race 1 before the #007 of Ben Dorr finally succumbed to the pressure from the Toyota behind to drop to P3.
On only the second lap, two spinning Mercedes AMG GT4’s came close to collected Ortmann’s #24 car but did bring out the Safety Car losing them all nearly ten minutes of race time. Going back to green, Ortmann was able to move up to P5 overall to round out a healthy AMR top five just as the pit window opened.
After the prescribed minimum pit stop timed window had passed, the #007 Dorr car with Romain Leroux now aboard had jumped the Toyota for position to reclaim its original P2 place behind Indy Dontjie who was now in the #69 car.
The #6 Racing One AMR of Euan McKay and Tom Wood would have a quieter introduction into the series from their P15 starting position as Wood would elevate them up to an opening P11 finish by the end.
Whilst the #69 and #007 Dorr cars would confirm the top two steps of the podium after their 1-2 finish, the #24 Prosport car of Ortmann and Sasse would also claim a P5 overall finish but also P3 in the Junior Class for Sasse.
The remaining Aston Martin’s of Nico Hantke/Simon Connor Primm, Sandro and Juliano Holzem and Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Christopher Rohner would all finish their opening race of the season in P8 overall/P4 in Junior, P21 overall/P10 Junior and P24 overall/P4 Trophy class respectively.
Sunday was however a much colder morning for Qualifying and this time it was the #6 Racing One Aston Martin of Tom Wood who secured pole position for race 2, ahead of the #69 Dorr car of Dontjie in second (for another AMR front row lock out), Leroux in P5 in his #007 with Hantke P8 in his #95 car and Sasse rounding out the top ten for AMR runners in tenth in his #24 Prosport car.
A lightning start form the young Englishman saw his quickly establish a healthy lead to any of those chasing as earlier as the end of the opening lap with only Dontjie hanging on to second as the pack formed into two or three packs of competing cars behind with both Leroux and Hantke amid the first.
Just approaching the opening of the pit window, a lunge up the inside at turn 12 from Leroux spun the #20 Mercedes which then stopped at the side of the track. With the pit window then opening, and with cars already in pit lap, any Safety Car now would ruin people’s races so for a time, it was dealt with via double waved yellows.
With three more cars tangling and getting stuck in the gravel another Safety Car was inevitable as soon as the final car had pitted. A good outlap from McKay had preserved their lead position with Phil Dorr again immediately behind as the next time around, a Porsche would then split the two Astons for position as the Safety Car was eventually deployed.
A drive through penalty (for the earlier contact with the #20 car) and further contact for Ben Dorr in the #007 would put any podium hopes that they may have had to bed as McKay pulled away again from the pack behind.
What happened next was simply unbelievable as the #22 Porsche of Vincent Andronaco simply scythed through the field from sixth as the race finally went back to green with little over twelve-minute remaining. Up to P5, P4, P3 and then onto the rear of Dorr’s #69 car saw no one stopping the progress of the Porsche.
Up to P2 and then into the lead on the last timed lap as the race clock had counted down as the cars entered their + 1 lap to the chequered flag.
Having led all but the last one and a half laps of the race, the #6 racing One crew of Wood and McKay had to settle for their first podium of the season down in second overall with Dorr and Dontjie completing the overall podium in third.
This time, the #24 Prosport car of Ortmann and Sasse would finish P4 overall but this time second in Junior for Sasse with Hantke and Connor Primm finishing just outside of the top 10 this time.
Next round of the season will be from the Red Bull Ring in Austria in mid-May.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 / Teams
Sunday, April 24, 2022 |
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A possible eight AMR Vantage GT4 entry into this seasons ADAC GT4 Germany Series that starts this weekend
The ADAC GT4 Germany Series kicks off its 2022 campaign this weekend from Oschersleben with a mighty eight AMR Vantage GT4 crews being shown amongst the twenty-nine entries listed so far for the opening round.
One of those listed from the German based Racing One team still has TBA denoted against the driver names together with another previously announced entry from the Team Speed Monkeys now not being listed at all, despite being ‘confirmed’ by the team earlier in the year.
Last week we saw Racing One confirm their first full season entry for both Tom Wood and Euan McKay making a possible brace of cars for the team in the series as well as two cars from the PROsport Racing team for both Hugo Sasse/Mike David Ortmann and Yevgen Sokolovskiy/Christopher Rohner and the four cars from the Doer Motorsport team.
That sees that team increase their series entry from one full season car to four having also ran two cars in the series at the end for brothers Ben and Phil Dorr.
Also having a change around in drivers from last season sees Ben Dorr now being partnered with 2021 FFSA GT4 Silver Cup Champion Romain Leroux, Phil Dorr with Indy Dontjie, Nico Hantke now with Simon Connor Primm and two GT debutants together in brothers Sandro and Juliano Holzem.
Like many GT4 series these days, the ADAC GT4 Germany runs two one-hour long pit stop punctuated races per weekend across its six-round season.
Photo credits – Teams / ADAC
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 |
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