A Bentley car has made history on its debut in the ADAC GT Masters. The Bentley Team HTP duo of Luca Stolz (19, Germany) and Holland’s Jeroen Bleekemolen (33) prevailed in qualifying for the season opener at the etropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben and will now start from pole position in both the Saturday and the Sunday race (live on SPORT1 starting at 1pm). For the first time in the history of the Super Sports Car League, a manufacturer making its ADAC GT Masters debut has claimed pole position. Bleekemolen then capped the achievement by wrapping up pole for Sunday’s race, at the same time setting a new qualifying record for the ADAC GT Masters at Oschersleben. « It’s hard to imagine a more perfect start to the season to have claimed both pole positions and thus have an open road in both races, » said a delighted Stolz. « We have done a lot right in our preparations for the season; we’ve worked hard and the net result is P1 on the grid. »
Qualifying 1 for the race on Saturday:
Stolz showed perfect timing in the first qualifying session. The Bentley driver established himself at the top of the timesheet at the very moment the session was briefly interrupted due to contamination on the track. After the restart, none of his opponents were able to undercut the time set by the Bentley. Alongside Stolz on Saturday’s front row will be Christian Engelhart (28, Germany) in a GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport Porsche 911. Austria’s Dominik Baumann (22) driving a BMW Z4 entered by local outfit BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert from Oschersleben qualified third ahead of Sebastian Asch (28, Germany) in a Team Zakspeed Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The competition for the best spots on the grid was fiercer than ever before, with the fastest seven all qualifying within 0.129 seconds of each other.
« The lap was perfect in every respect, » said Stolz. « I had some luck with the traffic and also with the slipstream. We’re on pole position for both races, but we weren’t all that dominant, because the gaps at the top are extremely narrow. »
Qualifying 2 for the race on Sunday:
For a long time in qualifying for the second race, it looked as if Corvette driver Daniel Keilwitz (25, Germany) had pole position in the bag. Keilwitz went out early onto the track and benefited from the wide open spaces. But then Luca Ludwig (26, Germany) driving a Team Zakspeed Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG bested the time set by the 2013 ADAC GT Masters champion, and ultimately Bleekemolen went faster than the pair of them. Shortly before the end of qualifying, Denmark’s Nicki Thiim (26) in a C.Abt Racing Audi R8 demoted Ludwig and Keilwitz to grid positions three and four and parked himself on Sunday’s front row.
« My team-mate Luca already did a perfect job in Q1, and then I also put in a perfect lap, » said Bleekemolen. « I wasn’t expecting pole position here, because the Bentley is still very new to me and it was by no means easy in free practice today. I didn’t allow myself to make any mistakes in qualifying and did exactly what was needed here to take pole. Qualifying was very competitive; in the end, there were five cars within 0.2 seconds of each other. That’s highly enjoyable and it also makes this series what it is. As for the races, despite the double pole it’s not going to be easy because we don’t yet know what the weather is for this weekend. »
Press release ADAC GT Masters
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