Bentley Team ABT had travelled to the Red Bull Ring for the ADAC GT Masters round marking the season’s midpoint with the declared intention of setting its sights on the podium. And Christian Abt’s squad kept its word. Following best times in practice and qualifying the team from the Allgäu delivered a strong performance in Saturday’s race as well. Fabian Hamprecht and birthday child Christer Jöns in second place clinched the first podium position for Bentley Team ABT in the ‘super sportscar league’. In addition, the duo celebrated victory in the Junior classification. In the Trophy classification Bentley Team ABT, with Andreas Weishaupt in third place, recorded another top-three result.
In spite of all the success to be reported there was a drop of bitterness as well. The yellow Continental GT3 that was actually on pole position was unable to start. Shortly after setting the fastest time in qualifying Jordan Pepper’s car coasted to a stop. Bentley Team ABT’s joy about its first pole position in the ADAC GT Masters was followed by a damper shortly afterwards. A leak in the manifold had disabled the sportscar and a repair before the race started was no longer possible. Consequently, Jordan Pepper and his teammate Daniel Abt were forced to watch the action from the pit wall.
And what they saw was certainly positive. Following an impeccable run on the 4.326-kilometre roller coaster track the number 8 Continental GT3 crossed the finishing line in position two after the one-hour race. “Finally, we broke our duck. What a fantastic birthday gift,” beamed Christer Jöns who drove the final stint and was 29 years old today. On his way to the podium he had to keep control of his car when being hit hard by an excessively motivated rival chasing him. However, the seasoned campaigner managed to bring the tumbling Bentley back on course. It remained the only moment of shock. Jöns had taken over the cockpit from Fabian Hamprecht halfway through the race. The youngster started the race from the pole position he had inherited from teammates Pepper/Abt. At the start he had to yield to the Porsche that was subsequently victorious but afterwards stayed out of harm’s way and marked the second-fastest race lap. “I fought tooth and nail but the Porsche could not be kept in check. Our second place feels like a victory after many less than perfect race weekends in the ADAC GT Masters,” Hamprecht said, summing up the race.
Trophy driver Andreas Weishaupt thanked his new teammate Marco Holzer for his third place in class. The 27-year-old newcomer to the series had already dominated the practice sessions with two best times and delivered an amazing display of fast laps in his first ADAC GT Masters race as well. “Marco drove like someone from outer space. He was even the fastest driver in the field some of the time,” his teammate Weishaupt enthused. The recovery took the duo forwards from grid position 26 to twelfth place in the overall classification.
“The trophies are the reward for the months of hard labour that are behind us,” said a pleased team boss Christian Abt. “We finally arrived where we wanted to be: on podium. ‘Thank you’ to Fabian (Hamprecht) and Christer (Jöns) for a tremendous race. Marco (Holzer) with his impressive recovery showed the Benthley’s potential as well. Congratulations to his partner Andreas Weishaupt on clinching another podium in the Trophy classification. It’s just a shame that our pole sitters weren’t able to race today. Otherwise we’d probably have clinched even more trophies. But we’re already going to race again tomorrow. Obviously, after today, we’re looking forward to it with even greater anticipation.”
Bentley Team ABT received congratulations from Rolf Frech as well. The new Board Member for Engineering at Bentley Motors is watching the race weekend trackside. “It’s always great to see a Bentley driver cheering on podium. The team more than deserves today’s success. Congratulations to the entire Bentley Team ABT and our colleagues from Bentley Motorsport for their untiring commitment. This was a brilliant team performance delivered by everyone.”
On Sunday Bentley Team ABT intends to up the ante. The second race of the weekend will start an hour earlier than usual, at 12:15. SPORT 1 will air live coverage beginning at 12:00 (CEST). Coverage will also be streamed on the internet.
