Three championships in one weekend, at the same venue, with our KW Motorsport customers right in the middle of it all. The ADAC GT4 Germany, ADAC GT Masters, and DTM were hosted at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Porsche celebrated a one-two-three victory in Saturday’s ADAC GT4 Germany race, keeping this year’s championship exciting with Josef Knopp and Finn Zulauf taking first place in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS (#31) of Avia W&S Motorsport.

What makes the ADAC GT4 Germany special is that the entire 2024 grid will consist exclusively of GT4 race cars from Aston Martin, BMW, Mercedes-AMG, and Porsche. Along with Toyota, these four manufacturers rely on our KW Racing dampers, made in Fichtenberg, for their GT4 customer racing programs.

The following teams finished in the top 5 on Saturday: Avia W&S Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS (#31) won the race. The 718 Cayman GT4 RS (#10) of Razoon – more than racing – crossed the finish line in second place. Third place went to another Avia W&S Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS. This time the #30.

The BMW M4 GT4 of Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport (#2) finished fourth, while the BWT Mücke Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 (#8) took fifth. A total of 22 race cars participated in Saturday’s ADAC GT4 Germany championship round.

Sunday’s ADAC GT4 Germany race at the Red Bull Ring was full of excitement. The final minutes, in particular, provided the spectators with thrilling entertainment.

In the end, Philipp Gogollok and Jan Marschalkowski claimed victory in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (#55) fielded by EastSide Motorsport, securing the British brand’s first win of the season.

Saturday’s winners, Josef Knopp and Finn Zulauf, finished second in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 (#31) after leading for a long time of the race. The two Avia W&S Motorsport drivers were able to further close the gap to championship leaders Gabriele Piana and Michael Schrey in the #2 Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport BMW M4 GT4. The championship leaders had been unable to score maximum points, finishing fourth on Saturday and fifth on Sunday.

Third place on Sunday went to the Mercedes-AMG GT4 (#18) of BWT Mücke Motorsport, while the FK Performance Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 (#46) finished fourth, ahead of the Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport M4.

In the ADAC GT Masters, the most successful KW customer racing team to finish in the top 10 on Saturday was FK Performance with their BMW M4 GT3 (#54). In Austria, Leon Köhler and Maxime Oosten were unable to continue their strong performance from Spa-Francorchamps.

Positions one to five were firmly held by Mercedes-AMG customer racing teams—congratulations on this excellent performance! Eleventh place went to Fach Auto Tech with the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#4), followed by FK Performance in 13th with the BMW M4 GT3 (#10), Team Joos by Twin Busch in 15th with the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#91), Walkenhorst Motorsport in 16th with the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (#34), and Walkenhorst Motorsport again in 17th with another Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (#35), while DB Motorsport finished 18th with the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#7).

On Sunday, the ADAC GT Masters played out similarly, with a Mercedes-AMG customer sports team once again taking the win. Third place went to the BMW M4 GT3 of FK Performance Motorsport (#54), driven by Leon Köhler and Maxime Oosten, who are the closest pursuers of Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen in the overall standings.

Eighth place went to Walkenhorst Motorsport with the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (#34), and ninth place to Team Joos by Twin Busch with the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#91). In addition to the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo and the Porsche 911 GT3 R, the BMW M4 GT3 is also homologated with KW Racing dampers.

Fach Auto Tech’s Porsche 911 GT3 R (#4) finished twelfth, while Walkenhorst Motorsport’s second Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (#35) crossed the finish line in thirteenth. FK Performance’s BMW M4 GT3 (#10) took fifteenth place, and DB Motorsport’s Porsche 911 GT3 R (#7) finished eighteenth, rounding out the other KW Motorsport customers at the Red Bull Ring.

Due to the changeable weather in Styria, the DTM started the race on Saturday with rain tires. Shortly after the start, Maro Engel, driving the Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#130), pushed past pole-sitter Arjun Maini, also in a Mercedes-AMG, and took the lead.

As the race progressed, SSR Performance’s Lamborghini (#92, driven by Mirko Bortolotti) made an impressive comeback and took the lead just before the pit stop window opened.

After consistently short stops during the pit stops, there was no change at the front, with Mirko Bortolotti, Maro Engel, and Arjun Maini maintaining their positions. The only customer sports car in the top 5 was the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Ayhancan Güven (#90), who gained a total of seven positions during the race!

Réne Rast, driving the Schubert BMW M4 GT3 (#33), finished Saturday’s DTM race in ninth place. His teammate Sheldon van der Linde, also in a BMW M4 GT3 (#31), finished eleventh. Thomas Preining crossed the finish line in twelfth place.

There was a completely different picture on race Sunday, as the KW Motorsport customers from Schubert Motorsport and Manthey EMA crossed the finish line in first and second place.

At first, however, it looked like the SSR Performance Lamborghini (#92) driven by Mirko Bortolotti would win this race as well. However, the mandatory pit stops shook up the top five significantly. During the late tire change, the Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of René Rast (#33) was fitted with slicks, allowing the BMW to rejoin the track ahead of the leading Lamborghini.

Thomas Preining, driving the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R (#91), overtook the SSR Lamborghini and nearly slipped into René Rast’s slipstream. In the end, it wasn’t enough, and the Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of René Rast (#33) won with a razor-thin lead over the Porsche in Austria.

Sheldon van der Linde (Schubert Motorsport, BMW M4 GT3, #31) and Ayhancan Güven (Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R, #90) also finished in the top 10, securing sixth and seventh places, respectively.

Marco Wittmann, the third Schubert Motorsport driver, drove his BMW M4 GT3 (#11) to eleventh place. In the DTM drivers’ standings, the BMW and Porsche racing drivers competing with KW V6 Racing dampers are currently in the following positions:

René Rast (#33, Schubert Motorsport) has 147 points and is currently fourth in the drivers’ standings. Thomas Preining (#91, Manthey EMA) remains in fifth with 143 points, while Sheldon van der Linde (#31, Schubert Motorsport) is sixth with 130 points. Marco Wittmann (#11, Schubert Motorsport) is eleventh with 94 points, and Ayhancan Güven (#90, Manthey EMA) is sixteenth with 52 points.

In the current DTM championship, our KW Motorsport customers occupy the following positions in the team standings: Position 1 – Schubert Motorsport with 320 points; Position 6 – Manthey EMA with 194 points.