With a field made up of eight automotive brands, the ADAC GT Masters is one of the world’s strongest national GT3 championships. This weekend, the new season of the high-caliber GT racing series will open at Oschersleben. Four customer teams will be putting a total of seven Audi R8 LMS ultra cars on the grid – no other manufacturer has as many cars in the field as Audi.
The title winner is returning: Kelvin van der Linde, who in 2014 immediately won the ADAC GT Masters drivers’ championship, is staying with the privateer team C. Abt Racing in the new season. After his previous team-mate René Rast has switched to Audi’s WEC driver squad, the 18-year-old South African is now sharing a cockpit with a young Bavarian talent: 19-year-old Stefan Wackerbauer from Landshut. Wackerbauer is set on showing that he deserves sitting in car number ‘1.’
Two other teams are each fielding an Audi R8 LMS ultra. Like last year, Team Yaco Racing from Plauen headed by Team Director Uwe Geipel relies on the driver pairing Philip Geipel and Rahel Frey. Dupré Engineering Motorsport from Schiffweiler is contesting its first full season in the ADAC GT Masters. The team of Claus Dupré based in the Saarland looks back on a decade-long association with Audi in customer racing.