Home advantage for GRT going into golden autumn at the Red Bull Ring. The third season begins with a double home race for the Austrian Lamborghini Team this coming weekend. From 22nd to 24th September, team principal Gottfried Grasser's squad will enter three Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s in the DTM and ADAC GT Masters. In the DTM, Lamborghini factory driver Andrea Caldarelli and local hero Clemens Schmid will take to the wheel for GRT. In the ADAC GT Masters, Lamborghini factory driver Marco Mapelli and his team-mate Benjamin Hites have high ambitions coming to Spielberg.
The races at the Red Bull Ring, located barely ten minutes away from the GRT headquarters in St.Margarethen, have always been the big highlight of the season for the team. The outfit’s success story began in 2011 in the workshop located in the immediate vicinity of the Grand Prix circuit. For almost ten years, Grasser Racing has been preparing their GT3 cars from Lamborghini Squadra Corse right there, achieving both international as well as local success. The bulls from Styria have already been victorious not only in far-away Daytona or Sebring.
The home race at the Red Bull Ring, famous from Formula 1, has been crowned with success for GRT many times. In the ADAC GT Masters, the team together with Lamborghini has so far achieved two victories, five podiums, three pole positions and two fastest laps on home soil. The first appearance in the DTM was also impressive last year. At their home debut in the iconic championship, GRT got off to a flying start on Friday with Clemens Schmid setting the fastest time in practice. On Saturday, Lamborghini factory driver Mirko Bortolotti delivered a strong performance with third place and the fastest lap.
This weekend, GRT will experience their home race for the first time as a double-header of DTM and ADAC GT Masters. For the seventh and penultimate race weekend in the DTM, a strong new partner has been acquired in GGMT Revolution, which features prominently on the #19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 driven by Andrea Caldarelli. In the sister car with start number 63, Clemens Schmid will also be spurred on by home advantage this weekend. The 33-year-old from Steinach am Brenner in Tyrol is one of three local heroes in the DTM grid and, with the support of his fellow countrymen, will of course be competing at home in the red-white-red GRT Lamborghini. In the run-up to the race weekend, he will be answering questions together with Gottfried Grasser at the DTM press conference in the Media Centre at the Red Bull Ring on Thursday, 21 September from 11:30 am.
Benjamin Hites and Marco Mapelli continue trophy hunting in the ADAC GT Masters
In the ADAC GT Masters, the goals are set high for the penultimate stop of the season in Spielberg. In the league of super sports cars, GRT celebrated a victory and a second place on the two previous weekends at the Nürburgring and the Sachsenring. In the championship, the team is well placed in fourth overall with four races to go and definitely has the chance to join the title fight with a strong weekend before the finale in Hockenheim. The driver duo of the green Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 with start number 63 is well prepared for the Red Bull Ring.
Lamborghini factory driver Marco Mapelli has already competed six times on the 4.318 km long circuit in the ADAC GT Masters. Benjamin Hites may be making his first start in the prestigious GT championship at the Red Bull Ring this weekend, but the 24-year-old from Santiago de Chile is anything but inexperienced there. Last year, he celebrated a victory and a second place behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO in the International GT Open. For him and Mapelli, a lot is possible this weekend with a view to the driver standings. The duo is currently third.
Gottfried Grasser, Team Principal of GRT: "Racing at home in the DTM and the ADAC GT Masters is really cool for us. It's always a pleasure to race at home and to compete in two absolute high-class racing series is something very special. The Red Bull Ring is the most beautiful circuit in the world for us and I'm sure it will be a great motorsport festival for the fans this weekend. As always, we will have many friends and partners on site and look forward to seeing familiar faces as well as new ones. The home race always has a special atmosphere and we will do everything we can to shine on the track. With Andrea and Clemens, we have a great line-up in the DTM and we want to build on our strong performances from the summer. In the ADAC GT Masters, the podium is clearly our goal. Marco and Benja have shown mega progress together this season and if they continue like this, there could be a lot possible in the closing stages of the season."
