Inside Racing

ADAC GT Masters

With two races per event and two drivers per car, this is the most successful of all German GT racing series. Inaugurated in 2007, the series attracts the grand seigneurs of international motorsport as well as precocious racing talents. This year, there are more than 60 names on the entry list.

Whether they are driving an Audi, a Lamborghini, a Porsche, a Corvette or a BMW, the contestants in the Super Sports Car League have the extremely demanding task of taming the more than 600 horsepower pumped out by their GT3 cars on the seven race weekends during 2017.

These will be staged on such illustrious circuits as the Nürburgring, the Hockenheimring and Austria’s Red Bull Ring. The second of the seven fixtures will be repeat of last year’s popular Motorsport Festival at the Lausitzring when the ADAC GT Masters will once again share the bill with the DTM.

The Audi R8 LMS

Audi has already won four championships and 25 races in the ADAC GT Masters with its R8 LMS, making the car one of the most successful in the history of the series. There was every good reason for the second generation of the Audi R8 LMS (predecessor model 2009 – 2015) being the best represented of all the models in the starter field during its debut season of 2016, with no fewer than ten lining up on the grid.

But it didn’t stop there: in its opening ADAC GT Masters campaign, the supercar from Ingolstadt with its 580bhp V10 engine won the championship at the first attempt.

Engine: V10, naturally aspirated
Cubic capacity: 5,205cc
Engine power: approx. 585 BHP
Torque: aprrox. 550 Nm
Gearbox: Six-speed, sequential
Chassis: Aluminium
Weight: 1.225 kg

Classification system
At the end of the ADAC GT Masters season, winners are crowned in four different categories. In addition to the driver and team championships, there is an award for best driver in the Junior and Trophy classes. The Junior class is open only to contestants under the age of 25 who are also classed as semi-professional or amateur. A driver who registers as an amateur (non-professional) for the ADAC GT Masters is automatically entered for the Trophy classification.

Live on TV
Fans in the German-speaking world have several ways of keeping up with the exciting racing action from the ADAC GT Masters. Free TV channel Sport1 not only reports live from the track but also broadcasts a magazine programme showing the weekend’s highlights. This is shared with its sister channel, Sport1+.