Successful Zolder premiere for ADAC Masters Weekend 14.06.2011: Dominant winners, close finishes and thrilling duels in Belgium It was not only the ADAC Masters Weekend that celebrated its premiere at Zolder over the Whitsun weekend, three of the four series involved were

Dominant winners, close finishes and thrilling duels in Belgium


It was not only the ADAC Masters Weekend that celebrated its premiere at Zolder over the Whitsun weekend, three of the four series involved were also on the grid for the first time at the traditional Belgium circuit. Only the spectator friendly motorsport platform’s flagship series, the ADAC GT Masters, had already competed here in 2007.


However, by the end of the weekend all the protagonists agreed: the traditional circuit in Belgium, which is demanding for both man and machine, is well worth a visit. 10,500 German and Belgium motorsport fans at track side were delighted about the nine thrilling ADAC GT Masters, ATS Formula 3 Cup, ADAC Formel Masters and ADAC PROCAR races held.
 



ADAC GT Masters: Margaritis/Lunardi take championship lead


At Zolder Alexandros Margaritis/Dino Lunardi (GR/F) retook the championship lead at the wheel of their BMW Alpina. They kept their nose in front during Sunday’s race despite fierce attacks from the chasing Albert von Thurn und Taxis/Philip Geipel (Regensburg/Plauen) in a Reiter-Lamborghini. Kenneth Heyer/Robert Renauer (Wegberg/Jedenhofen) gave Mercedes its first podium finish in the “league of super sportscars” after finishing third.


Margaritis/Lunardi were in the thick of the action in second on Saturday. However, they had no answer to the dominant winners Ferdinand and Johannes Stuck (A/A) in a Reiter-Lamborghini. Third place in this race went to Luca Ludwig/Christopher Mies (Bonn/Heiligenhaus) in the ABT Audi. As a result, they moved to the top of the table overnight.


On Sunday they were in the thick of the chasing pack and scored no points like the Stuck brothers. Celebration also for Corvette driver Sven Hannawald (Munich) on Sunday who won the amateur classification with the help of Heinz-Harald Frentzen.


 
ATS Formula 3 Cup: Stanaway wins again, Blomqvist for the first time


The New Zealand Van Amersfoort Racing driver Richie Stanaway again steadfastly defended his championship lead at the fifth ATS Formula 3 Cup race weekend. He dominated Saturday’s race around the Grand Prix track at Zolder on the way to his seventh win of the season and beat Klaus Bachler (A) and Marco Sörensen (DK) who finished second and third respectively.


On Sunday Stanaway had to settle for fifth place. Proud winner: the Briton Tom Blomqvist who celebrated from the top step of the podium for the first time. Marco Sörensen took second place ahead of Hannes Van Asseldonk (NL) and in doing so maintained contact to Stanaway in the standings. The two leading drivers are separated by 18 points.
 


Formel ADAC: Zolder magician Pascal Wehrlein unstoppable


The ADAC Stiftung Sport supported driver Pascal Wehrlein (Worndorf) now heads the Formel ADAC standings after taking three dominant start-to-finish wins in Belgium. The hat-trick brought him 75 points on the “star of tomorrow” series’ first outing at Zolder. With 171 points the 16-year old now lies 23 points ahead of closest rival Sven Müller (Bingen) who was sixth once and celebrated on the podium twice with a brace of third places.


Second most successful driver at Zolder was Artem Markelov. The Russian clinched three second places and set two fastest laps. In the standings Markelov is fourth (99 points) behind his Motopark team mate Emil Bernstorff (148). The Briton retired in the third race after taking a fourth and fifth beforehand. Owing to a driveshaft problem his car stopped at the start and caused another three drivers to retire from the race.



ADAC PROCAR: Leidinger stands firm, Thierfelder moves up


Although he carried an additional 60 kilograms of ballast BMW driver Johannes Leidinger (Nalbach) was able to defend his ADAC PROCAR Division 1 lead after a tough battle in Belgium. In the first race last year’s championship runner-up finished second ahead of Honda driver Christian Fischer (Reinach). Fellow BMW driver Jens Weimann (Preetz) took the win.


The second race saw Leidinger take a much coveted victory, with which he extended his championship lead. Weimann, who was also racing with 40 kilograms additional weight, was second and now lies only 20 points behind the leader. In Division 2 the Peugeot driver Guido Thierfelder (Troisdorf) had his nose in front: he celebrated two race wins and tore Ford driver Nils Mierschke (Fränkisch-Crumbach), who was second twice, from the head of the standings.


 
TV highlights on kabel eins, SPORT1 and MotorsTV


TV highlights of the events at Zolder are broadcast by “kabel eins” (13 June, 01:50) as well as “SPORT1” (18 June, 11:45). “MotorsTV” broadcasts a repeat of the ADAC GT Masters race in full length (21 June, 00:15-02:30 and 07:00-09:15, 23 June, 11:15-13:30)

 

 
- Lars Soutschka -


Photos on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS SLIDESHOWS and PHOTOS Ecards ADAC GT MASTERS