This external link is not available in presentation mode.

To the top
Menu

Spielberg

Christian Engelhart captures fifth spot on GRT’s home track in Spielberg

Spielberg, 06-09-2019

Intense – that is the word that most aptly describes Christian Engelhart’s weekend at the Red Bull Ring in the ADAC GT Masters. Thanks to a great fighting display, he and his teammate Mirko Bortolotti were able to finish fifth on the home turf of the Grasser Racing Team, despite a difficult Balance of Performance.

The conditions at the Red Bull Ring were characterized by soaring temperatures – and that alone made for an interesting weekend of racing. Added to that was the fact that Christian Engelhart and Mirko Bortolotti were in close contention in the very tightly contested ADAC GT Masters.

The Lamborghini duo had bad luck on the Saturday when their car suffered tire damage shortly before the end of the race. However, they pulled off a coup on the Sunday, moving up from 12th on the grid to cross the line in fifth. On the opening stint, Christian laid the foundation for that in a fiercely contested starting phase, in which he fought intense duels on the track and so was able to make up a lot of ground. With a refined strategy, his teammate Mirko Bortolotti took over for the second half of the race and was able to continue Christian’s good work. Thanks to a perfect move, he secured fifth spot for the duo and so important points in the championship. Christian is now in touch with the leaders in it and aims to follow up on this fine display at the next ADAC GT Masters race in Zandvoort.

“It was really an intense weekend. A starting place among the top 10 on the grid wasn’t possible this time due to the Balance of Performance, even with perfect laps. But I think things will be different next time. It was extremely annoying that we had back luck with the tires again on the Saturday. However, we were able to step up a gear on the Sunday, produce a very good performance on the track and move up the field thanks to our strategy and consistency. That makes me optimistic. We’ll build on that now until next weekend on the North Sea coast.”