NEWS
ADAC GT Masters: Red Bull Ring Report
The 5th round of the German ADAC GT Masters took place at the newly renovated Red Bull Ring in the hills of Austria. The former A1 Ring, now owned by the Red Bull energy drink company, provided two exciting races for the Austrian fans. Diego Alessi qualified his Callaway Corvette second for race one and Daniel Keilwitz qualified ninth for race two. Race one started under cloudy skies but it started to rain on the first lap. Unfortunately all of the cars started on slick tires and as the rain increased cars began sliding off the course.
Diego was brilliant during his stint keeping the car on course and holding down third position as he tip toed around the circuit. When the pit window opened at 35 minutes all of the competitors streamed into the box. Unfortunately a huge lake of water formed at the pit entrance and many cars lost control and made contact with the pit wall. This included the Corvettes of Sieler/Eng, Frentzen/Hannawald and Alessi/Keliwitz.
Race two was held under sunny skies and the Callaway Corvettes of Frentzen qualified fourth, Eng was sixth and Keliwitz was ninth only .55 of a second behind the pole winner! Sixteen cars were within the same second on the starting grid. This has become a very competitive series in Europe. Early in the race Frentzen had a spirited battle with the leaders and held third position until the pit window opened and he dove into the pits. Eng was sixth until he lost a plug wire which dropped him down the order. Keliwitz pitted in seventh position and this team would normally end up on the podium because of the Alessi’s strength as a driver. Unfortunately, a wheel came loose just a couple laps later.
So, another pit stop knocked this team down the order and they finished 20th. Sven Hannawald, Frentzen’s teammate and former ski jumper drove a brilliant race and finished 4th overall and first in the amateur division. He missed third position and a podium by 1.5 seconds. So the Callaway team left the Red Bull Ring with some positive news and it clearly showed that the Callaway Corvettes are still competitive.
