ADAC: Andreas Wirth continues Sachsenring summary

Andreas Wirth Continues In The Title Hunt At The Sachsenring

Competing once again for ALPINA S-Berg Racing this past weekend in the ADAC GT Masters Series, Andreas Wirth and co-driver Martin Matzke faced the unfamiliar Sachsenring as the sole BMW in a field of 19 highly competitive sports cars and talented drivers. With no previous experience at the Sachsenring for the BMW-ALPINA B6 GT3 the team started from scratch with set ups and strategies.

Sadly for the enthusiastic team of Matzke & Wirth, it quickly became evident on Friday that the ALPINA was ailing, apparently still struggling with a few familiar issues carried over from Oschersleben. Qualifying 4th and 8th respectively for rounds 3 & 4 certainly wasn't the result the S-Berg Racing team had hoped for, but they were determined to make the best of it and use the opportunity to gain much needed experience on this unfamiliar circuit. Wirth remarked on their qualifying results, "We really didn't have any data from the Sachsenring, so we were basically starting blind this weekend. Unfortunately, the problems we'd been having with the car got worse during my qualifying stint, and there wasn't a lot I could do. It's disappointing for sure, because I know the car is capable of much more than this."

While the team was hopeful that better results would follow for the races, the #14 had to settle for two top ten finishes; 4th and 9th. Commenting on their results Wirth said, "The Sachsenring is probably not the best track for our car performance-wise, it's pretty tight for the first third of the circuit - it's just not well suited. Overall it was a challenging weekend for so many reasons, but we still had a lot of fun and managed to challenge our competitors and put on a good show for the fans. It's pretty frustrating though that we didn't finish better - I know we have a car that could have taken us to the podium, there are just some problems with the car that need to be taken care of and we'll be there. I'm really happy that I'll be running the full GT Masters schedule this year with ALPINA S-Berg Racing - Martin (Matzke) and I are fitting in well together as teammates, and everyone on the team is doing a great job - it's a shame that we haven't made it to the podium yet, but we'll get it! Hopefully over the next couple of weeks they'll manage to get things sorted out because I'm really looking forward to Hockenheim at the end of the month - we want to prove we're serious contenders for the title, and I'll be fighting hard for great results in the upcoming races!"

Andreas Wirth and Martin Matzke currently hold 6th place in the standings, just 1 point off of 5th.

Rounds 5 and 6 of the ADAC GT Masters Series take place May 29th & 30th at the Hockenheimring.

-source: andreaswirth.com