With a total of one victory, three podium finishes, two class wins and two pole positions in DTM and ADAC GT Masters, the Haupt Racing Team had its most successful race weekend of the current season so far at the Red Bull Ring.
- DTM: Two podiums and a pole position for Arjun Maini
- ADAC GT Masters: Pole position and one-two victory in race one
- Fetzer and Haupt with two class wins in the ADAC GT Masters
DTM: Pole position and two podiums for Arjun Maini
In the DTM, Arjun Maini (IND) celebrated his most successful DTM weekend to date on the Austrian Grand Prix circuit with his first pole position and two third places. After starting from first position, Maini was only beaten by two championship contenders in race one in difficult track conditions and took third place, achieving his second podium of the season. The Indian also showed an impressive performance in the second race, moving up from eighth on the grid to third place once again and claiming his second podium finish of the weekend. Team-mate Luca Stolz (GER) also performed strongly for Mercedes-AMG Team HRT with fourth place on Saturday, but unfortunately had to retire his Mercedes-AMG GT3 prematurely in the second race due to a technical issue. With this excellent result, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT collected many valuable championship points and, with a total of 45 points, helped to ensure that Mercedes-AMG goes into the season finale at the Hockenheimring as the best-placed manufacturer.
ADAC GT Masters: Historic success in first race
The team from Drees also achieved a historic result in the ADAC GT Masters. To begin with, Max Reis (GER) secured his first pole position in the ADAC GT Masters in a spectacular first qualifying session. Team-mate Finn Wiebelhaus (GER) completed the first row for HRT with second place on the grid. In the first race, Jannes Fittje (GER) and Finn Wiebelhaus not only secured their first win of the season, but also the 40th success for Mercedes-AMG in this series. Salman Owega and David Schumacher (both GER) in second place ensured a one-two finish. All four of HRT's Mercedes-AMG GT3s crossed the finish line in the top five of the overall standings. Dennis Fetzer and Hubert Haupt (both GER) also celebrated class victory in the Pro-Am category on their ADAC GT Masters debut. In the second race on Sunday, Fetzer and Haupt repeated their victory in the Pro-Am class. However, this success came with a drop of bitterness. Towards the end of the race, Hubert Haupt was pushed off the track by a competitor and made heavy contact with the barriers. The race was stopped immediately and not restarted. Haupt was able to get out of the severely damaged Mercedes-AMG GT3 by his own efforts, but was taken to the local hospital for observation. Fortunately, Haupt was able to leave the hospital on Monday without any major injuries. With two more top 10 results in this race, the Haupt Racing Team now heads to the final race weekend in Hockenheim as leaders in the team standings, where they will be aiming to defend their title.
Ulrich Fritz, Chief Executive Officer Haupt Racing Team: “An outstanding weekend for HRT. With one pole position and two podiums, Arjun has achieved his best career result in the DTM to date. Arjun has always felt comfortable at the Red Bull Ring. Now he proved his performance over the whole weekend. Luca was also very fast and scored important points. Unfortunately, he had some bad luck on Sunday. A big thank you to the whole team for their great work. Also, a big compliment to our drivers in the ADAC GT Masters. We can be extremely satisfied with this strong team result.”
Manuel Reuter, Driver Coach HRT ADAC GT Masters: “I’m very proud of our guys. They have delivered an incredible weekend. Pole position and a double victory - simply amazing. Some of them are racing in a GT3 car for the first time this year. They have developed really well and are always prepared to score strong results. That's why we're at the top of the team standings. We want to defend this title in Hockenheim and bring it back home with us. Despite the unpleasant ending, Dennis and Hubert also did a very strong job in their guest appearance in the ADAC GT Masters and deserved to win their class.”
