Christian Engelhart wins in the finale at the Hockenheimring

The place in the center of the rostrum was the goal of Christian Engelhart and Rolf Ineichen at the finale of the ADAC GT Masters at the Hockenheimring. And that was exactly where the duo stood after this season’s final race, in which the two Lamborghini pilots captured their second victory of the season in the fiercely contested championship.

Christian and Rolf had come fifth in the Saturday race the previous day. Yet the final ADAC GT Masters race of the season on the Hockenheim track was a real thriller. A total of four cars tussled for victory on the final lap, but it was Rolf who took the checkered flag first with a strong performance and very commanding drive.

Christian started the race from second on the grid and, when the lights turned green, he began to hunt down the leading BMW ahead of him. In his Lamborghini Huracan GT3, Christian was the only one in the pack able to keep up with the leader’s pace and handed over to Rolf shortly after the pit window opened.

The team almost succeeded in overtaking the leading car midway through the race thanks to this undercut. Yet that would have to wait a while. In the final spell of the race, Rolf battled away alternately from second and third, keeping out of risky situations in the battle for first.

That well-considered decision paid off after an hour of the race, when his two rivals for victory tussled too intensively and Rolf was able to exploit the situation and arrive in first in the parc fermé at the end of the final lap. There was an eruption of joy – and the subsequent winner’s ceremony was also feted jubilantly by Christian and Rolf together with their Grasser Racing Team.

Christian and Rolf thus finished their season in the ADAC GT Masters in seventh overall, despite the fact that they were not able to compete in every weekend of racing due to overlaps with the Blancpain GT Series. They ended up just 25 points off third place or the number awarded for a victory – a goal they are aiming to achieve next year.