Team 75 Bernhard's Porsche #17 wins ADAC GT Masters season-opening race

The 2017 ADAC GT Masters season kicked-off at Oschersleben with a victory of Team 75 Bernhard’s Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Michael Ammermuller.

Team 75 Bernhard’s Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Michael Ammermuller started from pole position. Next to the #17 car was another Porsche of Schutz Motorsport, driven by Klaus Bachler and Alex MacDowall while in the second row were Callaway Competition’s Corvette #77 of Jules Gounon and Daniel Keilwitz, as well as Aust Motorsport’s Audi #3 of Markus Pommer and former champion Kelvin van der Linde.

Already on the first lap Porsche #17 lost the lead and dropped to the 2nd place allowing car #36 to move up. At the same time, Land Motorsport’s Audi #2 of Jeffrey Schmidt and Christopher Haase moved up to the 4th position. Callaway Competition’s Corvette #77 stayed out of the race on lap 6 when slid out of the track after Gounon made a small but crucial mistake.

Schutz Motorsport’s car #36 finished 2nd in the season opener at Oschersleben

When driver change was completed and pit window was closed, #17 car with Ammermuller behind the wheel took the lead with a solid 4.5s advantage to the #36 car. Land Motorsport’s Audi #1 of reigning champions Connor De Phillippi and Christopher Mies moved up to the 3rd position and was followed by car #3 and other Land Motorsport’s Audi.

Nothing exciting had happened at the top of the grid but with 5 minutes to go, the safety car was deployed for the third time when MRS GT Racing’s Nissan stayed trapped in the gravel. The gaps were shortened but in the one remaining lap, but nothing has changed and the top 5 standings remained the same.