Seppänen and Kalender win in the final race at Hockenheim – Second place for Köhler and Oosten – Seppänen is the first title holder in the “Road to DTM” classification
The new champions Elias Seppänen and Tom Kalender delivered another outstanding performance in the last race of the 2020 ADAC GT Masters on Sunday. With their fifth victory at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, the Landgraf Motorsport youngsters enjoyed a perfect end to the season in the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
“Since we no longer had anything to prove to ourselves, we were totally liberated and just wanted to have fun again in the final race. With this victory, we definitely succeeded in doing that,” says Seppänen, who this year, with the highest points total, went down in the history of the ADAC GT Masters as the first winner of the “Road to DTM” classification.
Kalender agrees: “It was a great and, above all, exciting race. We had a great fight with the BMW, which fortunately we decided in our favor. In any case, finishing the last race of the season as the winner feels great.”
Second place went to Maxime Oosten and Leon Köhler in the BMW M4 GT3 from FK Performance. Third place went to the two Swiss drivers Jean-Luc D’Auria and Alain Valente in the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. The 2024 team championship was won by Haupt Racing Team, who impressed with consistently good results throughout the year.
The start of the final race on the 4.574-kilometre circuit was marked by a spectacular battle at the front of the field. Right at the start, Seppänen squeezed past pole-setter Valente, who was able to regain his position, but was eventually beaten by the Mercedes-AMG and then by Köhler’s BMW. Valente then found himself in third place.
The two beneficiaries then pulled away from the rest of the field. However, due to the shorter time spent at the mandatory pit stop, ProAm driver Alexander Schwarzer in the Fach Auto Tech Porsche 911 GT3 R took the lead. The Porsche driver also benefited from the intense three-way battle between Kalender in the Landgraf Mercedes-AMG, Oosten in the FK BMW and D’Auria in the Emil Frey Ferrari.
However, towards the end, the gap between the leader and the rest closed, giving Kalender and Oosten the chance to overtake. They crossed the finish line in that order. “The fight with Tom was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the win in the end, but we’re still satisfied with the result,” said Oosten.
After D’Auria and Juliano Holzem in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 also overtook the Fach Porsche, a thrilling battle for third place ensued. In a hard-fought duel, the Ferrari ultimately secured the last remaining place on the podium.
“It was a tough fight, but that’s what the series is all about and that’s what the fans want to see. In any case, to end the season with another podium finish is great,” said Valente, summing up the final spurt of his teammate D’Auria. Schwarzer, who had put in a remarkable performance against the Silver drivers so far, retired after an accident in the Sachs corner shortly before the end of the race.
The Holzem twins, Sandro and Juliano, saw the checkered flag in fourth place ahead of Tim Zimmermann’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 and the Chilean Benjamin Hites. As on Saturday, Finn Wiebelhaus and Jannes Fittje (Haupt Racing Team) put in a strong chase in the Mercedes-AMG GT3, which took them up to sixth position.
Salman Owega and David Schumacher in the second Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the Haupt team finished in seventh place. The Kapfinger twins Johannes and Michael in the Joos team’s Porsche 911 GT3 R took eighth place ahead of Denis Bulatov and Mike David Ortmann in the Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Kwanda Mokoena and Max Reis (Haupt Racing Team) drove their Mercedes-AMG GT3 from 14th position to tenth place. Pablo Schumm and Jonas Karklys in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 from Team Engstler won the ProAm classification.