Prosport Racing on final leg of potential championship winning double within ADAC GT4 Germany
Going into this weekend’s final two-hour long races sees their #1 crew of Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse retaining a forty-three-point lead over the chasing pack within the overall championship whilst the team retains a more modest ten-point lead within that Championship battle.
They are joined at the circuit by the three other Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 powered crews from the Christophe Esser lead squad as the all-female crew of Celia Martin and Fabienne Wohlwend return within their #13 car, with Raphael Rennhofer this time joined by Marek Bochmann within the #19 car (not sure what has happened with Leon Erger) with Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Damon Surzyshyn completing the list with their Trophy classed #48 car.
Last time out at the Sachensring saw the #1 crew take two race wins over the weekend together with best drives yet from the #13 crew.
Having already claimed AMR Vantage GT3 championship success within the NLS series, further GT4 success for this multi-car – multi-series committed team would only be fitting.
Photo credits - ADAC
Wednesday, October 18, 2023 |
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Four of Prosport Racings finest return for penultimate round of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series from the Sachensing
Continuing the theme that was raised last time out from the Lausitzring, we again see just the quartet of Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4’s from the Prosport Racing team as the Doer Motorsport team will indeed by busy elsewhere with the double header of rounds six and seven of the NLS Series around the Nordschliefe.
Last time out for Christoph Essers team wasn’t exactly smooth but did at least see their defending champions, Mike David Ortmann and Higo Sasse get back up to speed in the series following a slight BoP adjustment for them. Whilst a P3 start in race one was converted into a P4 finish for the crew on Saturday, a lowly P11 start on Sunday did see them stand back upon the podium after a worthy P3 finish.
Those results saw the #1 crew go back to the top of the overall championship whilst holding a slender lead over the BMW M4 GT4 crew of Denis Bulatov and former AMR series racer, Simon Connor Primm and also some other teams sitting out this weekend's event in protest of their own BoP situation!
Those results saw the #1 crew go back to the top of the overall championship whilst holding a slender lead over the BMW M4 GT4 crew of Denis Bulatov and former AMR series racer, Simon Connor Primm and also some other teams sitting out this weekend's event in protest of their own BoP situation!
Within the rest of the team, the #19 crew of Leon Erger and Raphael Rennhofer didn’t have quite the same touch as their debut round at the Nurburgring with a P14 and a DNF over the two races but there was a better performance from their two lady racers within the #13 car as Fabienne Wohlwend and Celia Martin finished P22 and P19 – their best results to date.
The fourth #48 car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Damon Surzyshyn meanwhile finished a very credible P19 after race one but faced a very early exit with damage in Race 2 to lose further ground within their Trophy Class battle.
Photo credit - Series
Wednesday, September 06, 2023 |
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Hard graft for Prosport Racing as BoP changes again blight their ADAC GT4 Germany efforts
Having lost the Doer Motorsport team from championship contention since the last round at the Nurburgring, AMR honours have been left to the Christoph Esser lead team and principally their #1 crew of reigning champions Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse.
Re-stablishing themselves at the top of the overall leader board thanks to two podium finishes at the Nurburgring, another negative Balance of Performance adjustment towards the Aston Martin would see all four cars struggle for every inch of progress.
The #1 car was again the most resourceful with what they had with Sasse qualifying their car in third ahead of Saturday’s start. That would later transpire into a just off the podium P4 finish whilst the #48 Trophy class car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Daman Surzyshyn also claimed another class podium for their efforts too.
In Sunday’s concluding race of the weekend, it very nearly all went wrong for the team as Raphael Rennhofer got turned around into the fact turn one which resulted in their first DNF of the season so far before the #48 also became involved on an incident of their own on the restart which saw Sokolovskiy retire the car off track after contact.
The all-lady crew of the green #13 car saw Celia Martin and Fabienne Wohlwend their best weekend of the series so far finishing P22 and P19 over the two races respectively.
Despite all of this and a lowly qualifying position for the #1 car, the young duo were able to progress through the ranks to claim third overall by race end to retain the championship lead by now just six points as the series moves onto the Sachensring later in September.
Photo credits – ADAC GT4 Germany / Team
Sunday, August 20, 2023 |
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Reigning Champions Ortmann and Sasse lead the way in a rain drenched Nurburgring third round
The ADAC GT4 Germany Series was back in action at the weekend from what turned out to be a rain soaked Nurburgring circuit with five Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crews again taking part – four from the locally based Prosport Racing team and another from the Doer Motorsport team.
The early pace was set by the #1 Prosport Racing AMR of Higo Sasse as he and Mike David Ortmann secured pole position for the start of Saturday’s opening hour long race with the #007 Doer car of Ben Dorr and Theo Nouet close behind in third.
Starting upon a wet track behind the Safety Car, Sasse maintained his lead as the thirty strong grid tip-toed around an obviously slippery circuit. Two early spinners into the tyre wall quickly brought out the Safety Car again, wiping out the 3.5 second lead that Sasse had already built up in that opening ten minutes before the race was red flagged for repairs.
Starting again behind the Safety Car, the race resumed as the #1, #007 and #19 cars lead and Aston Martin 1-2-3 in opening laps. With further spinners within the midst of the pack, the race at least continued with Dorr soon setting an early fastest lap prior to the pit window opening.
Times slowly increased as a dry line began to form on track, but the rain soon returned to blight the aspirations of some who elected for slicks at their pit stops leaving the two front running Astons (#1 and #007) to battle with two Mercedes AMR GT4’s for the podium prizes where they eventually finished second and third respectively by the end.
Those battles continued in Sunday’s equally wet race two as the #1 car this time started from the second row of the grid with the #007 next best again in P7.
More early spinners again brought out the Safety Car before the race was later released again as the rainfall intensified making for some atrocious track conditions from which Ortmann soon took charge again at the front on the restart.
This time Nouet could not do much with those ahead as he remained in sixth as the pit window opened where Sasse eventually emerged down in second, behind the #24 Porsche with the #007 holding onto sixth.
With twenty minutes remaining, the #1 car was relegated to third before Sasse passed both the #85 Mercedes and #24 Porsche with still ten minutes remaining – a position from which the reigning champions would not look back to end an incredible return to the series after some difficult races so far from both Oschersleben and Zandvoort.
Not having all their own way also saw the #48 Trophy class car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Damon Surzyshyn take a class win in race 1 whilst their teams debuting duo of Raphael Rennhofer and Leon Erger also impressive after their P4 start and P7 finish in race 1, backed up with a P13 start and P18 finish in race 2.
Next race will be from the Lausitzring in two weeks’ time.
Photo credits – Teams / Series
Monday, August 07, 2023 |
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Five Aston Martin Racing crews go again this weekend as ADAC GT4 Germany Series hits the Nurburgring
Starting out at Oschersleben at the end of May before progressing to Zandvoort in Holland four weeks later saw the Bachman siblings start and then end their series endeavours with the Prosport Racing team, for them to be replaced ahead of the last round and for two series debutants to take their places again in Germany.
What remains static is the number of Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 crews entering with Prosport Racing again fielding four such cars with the Dorr Motorsport team entering a fifth.
Reigning champions Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse remain the highest placed Amr crew after two rounds, presently sitting P4 in the overall championship in the #1 Prosport car whilst the #7 Dorr car of Ben Dorr and Theo Nouet feature way down in P19 after a frightful start to the season where they have been dogged with technical issues so far.
Reigning champions Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse remain the highest placed Amr crew after two rounds, presently sitting P4 in the overall championship in the #1 Prosport car whilst the #7 Dorr car of Ben Dorr and Theo Nouet feature way down in P19 after a frightful start to the season where they have been dogged with technical issues so far.
The all-female #13 Prosport crew of both Celia Martin and Fabienne Wohlwend have finished all four races so far but unfortunately not high enough up the order to score championship points whilst the #48 Prosport Trophy class car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Damon Surzyshyn have made similar progress despite their late start together to presently sit fifth in that class albeit with just half the points of the present class leader.
This weekend will see another two hour long, pit stop punctuated races to place around the grand prix loop of the Nurburgring circuit, giving the Prosport team something of home advantage as their rookie drivers Leon Erger and Raphael Rennhofer compete for the first time together within the teams #19 car.
Photo credits – Team / series
Wednesday, August 02, 2023 |
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No reward for the five Aston Martins as ADAC GT4 Germany visits the coastal circuit of Zandvoort
With Vantage GT4 crews from both the Prosport Racing and Doer Motorsport teams, actually making the second round with already a feat of achievement after all four of their cars were damaged in a road traffic accident coming away from the opening round from Oschersleben a few weeks ago.
At Oschersleben, the team also suffered from technical woe across all four cars before their reigning series champions, Mike David-Ortmann and Hugo Sasse finally came away with a race win in the second race.
In-between rounds, the team’s #19 crew has also been swapped out as brother and sister line up Andreas and Jessica Bachman have been replaced with former series champion in Ricardo Van Der Ende with Benjamin Lessennes. Other than that, all was constant as Fabienne Wohlwend again partnered Celia Martin in the #13 car with Yevgen Sokolovskiy again racing with Damon Surzyshyn within their Trophy classed #48 car with Theo Nouet and Ben Dorr again in the #007 Doer AMR Vantage.
Fridays Qualifying saw a solid start from both the #1 and #19 cars as Ortmann secured a second row start with Lessennes in P9 after his first run within the Aston Martin. However, with Qualifying being one thing and racing another, the BoP afforded to the AMR Vantage GT4 this year across the board is simply ‘not what it used to be’ leaving the young Germans a hard hour-long battle to secure a P4 finish with the #19 crew rounding off their debut race together in P10.
Sunday’s second race fell on much of the same level with the Aston runners never having the ‘legs’ underneath them to contest for position at the front of the twenty-seven strong grid, although Van Der Ende did string a lap together around his local circuit to claim a P3 start.
Eventually finish P5 (for the #1 car) and P6 (for the #19 car), these were again the pick of the crop as the #007 Doer car struggled all weekend within the midfield – likewise within the all- female #13 car who’s best result was P18 in race 1.
These results see the #1 car slip to P4 within the overall driver’s championship table but with the debuting #19 car crew moving up to P13 after two good opening races.
These results see the #1 car slip to P4 within the overall driver’s championship table but with the debuting #19 car crew moving up to P13 after two good opening races.
The next round of the season will be from the Nurburgring at the start of August.
Photo credits - Series
Monday, June 26, 2023 |
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Five Aston Martins back for ADAC GT4 Germany as the series visits Zandvoort this weekend #UPDATED
Having ran last time out at Oschersleben, the four Prosport Racing and this time solo crew from the Doer Motorsport team again competed within two highly dramatic one-hour sprint races that left for five DNF or DNS for the five Aston Martins across the two races but was highlighted by an overall win for reigning champions Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann aboard the #1 Prosport car.
Apart from the race 1 / turn 1 incident for the #1 car, most of the issues were technical which saw the #7 Doer car of Ben Dorr and Theo Nouet fail to start race 2 at all with also a race 1 DNF for the late Prosport line up of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Damon Surzyshyn.
Brother and sister pairing of Jessica and Andreas Bachman suffered the most with two technical related DNF’s across the opening weekend. The Prosport Racing issues were further compound by a road traffic accident with their transporter and the way back to base from Oschersleben that left their attending crew in hospital and all four cars damaged within.
Prior to last weekend’s NLS 4 race around the Nordschleife, the team did confirm that all four of their ADAC GT4 Germany stock completed a successful post incident shakedown test aided by Celia Martin who partners Fabienne Wohlwend aboard the #13 car.
Hopefully the characteristics of the twisting Dutch coastal circuit will benefit the Vantage GT4 this time around.
### UPDATE ###
Today (Thursday 22nd June) Prosport Racing have posted that drivers Ricardo van der Ende and Benjamin Lessennes will be racing their #19 car this weekend at Zandvoort instead of Jessica and Andreas Bachman.
Photo credit – ADAC GT4
Wednesday, June 21, 2023 |
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Rags to riches for the reigning Champions in race 2 of the ADAC GT4 Germany Series opener
Having suffered from technical gremlins for much of the Free Practice, Q1 and race 1, the #48 car of Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Damon Surzyshyn got swapped out to one of the teams cars that had just competed within the ADAC TotalEnergies 24H event the week before.
Having started last for race 1 and then retired before the pit window, at least newcomer to the team Surzyshyn was able to Qualify and this time race a car for Sunday’s second hour long affair although their outcome may not have felt worth the cost with a P24 finish.
It was a similar vein of disappointment for the Bachmann’s aboard their #19 car after having ran so well within the first half of race 1 only to be forced out with technical issues of their own at the end and that sadly continued into race 2 with another DNF for their efforts.
The sole Doer Motorsport Vantage GT4 crew of Ben Dorr and Theo Nouet who were also changed back into ‘civies’ before they should have after technical issues during Sunday’s Q2 session forced them to stop with little time remaining to fix that issue in time to take the start.
The sole item of good news came from the Prosport Racing #1 car of Hugo Sasse and Mike David-Ortmann who took their own disappointment of a lap 1 exit in race 1 to claim their first win of the season having started from third on the grid.
With the first round now securely under their belts, hopefully the second round from Zandvoort at the end of June will run more beneficially for the five crews – fingers crossed.
Photo credits - ADAC
Monday, May 29, 2023 |
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Disappointment for many AMR crews in opening ADAC GT4 Germany race at Oschersleben
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
Saturday, May 27, 2023 |
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