Difficult weekend for W&S Motorsport at the Red Bull Ring

On the 4.32 km long hilly track in Styria, Max Kronberg and Hendrik Still in the Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport #30 were able to make up positions from the midfield in Saturday's race despite tough duels and finished in twelfth place. On Sunday, Still drove a promising starting stint, again coming from midfield. With ten minutes to go, Kronberg was running in the Top 10 when he had a brake problem and came to a halt in the gravel trap, unable to pull away under his own power.

Nicolaj Møller Madsen and Finn Zulauf, the drivers of the #31 AVIA W&S Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, started the first race of the weekend from second place after a near perfect lap by Møller Madsen in qualifying. The Dane drove a commanding first half of the race in the battle for the lead. Zulauf was able to keep up with the pace of the front runners for a long time, crossed the finish line in fifth position and was delighted with third place in the Junior classification. In addition, the AVIA racing Cayman GT4 was the best Porsche in the field.

The duo wanted to build on this performance on Sunday, but this was going to be difficult after a mixed qualifying session starting from 18th place. The turbulent race, which was dominated by numerous accidents and a total of five safety car phases, saw Møller Madsen move up to fourth position shortly before the end of the 60-minute race. With the podium within reach, he was hit hard by an opponent coming from behind and the dream of many points and the first podium of the season was shattered.

For Austrian driver Leo Pichler, the weekend at the Red Bull Ring was a true home race, as he lives only about 100 kilometres away. He shared the cockpit of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 MR #32 with Leon Wassertheurer. The two youngsters drove a solid race on Saturday and finished 20th. In the second race on Sunday, a competitor hit the Cayman GT4 on lap 14 and thus ended their race prematurely.

Daniel Schellhaas, Team Principal W&S Motorsport: "I have rarely experienced such a chaotic race as on Sunday. Our speed was there to finish in the Top 7 with two cars and even on the podium with Nicolaj and Finn. But unfortunately our opponents threw a spanner in the works. Second place on the grid on Saturday shows that we have the potential to be up front. The team did a good job again and I am sure that we will soon be rewarded for our tireless efforts."

Hendrik Still, Driver #30: "After good practice sessions, we headed into the weekend confident and well prepared. On Saturday we were able to keep up the pace and the result was encouraging. We have to analyse Sunday's race. Already in qualifying I was not fully on the mark. Then the competition was almost like a stock car race but we still managed well. Of course it was disappointing that Max had brake problems ten minutes before the end in seventh place. We know what we still have to work on and will attack again at the next race."

Nicolaj Møller Madsen, Driver #31: "I am happy that we once again showed the pace as the strongest Porsche in the field. The team worked hard, we analysed the data and we started from the front row on Saturday. We could keep the position in the first stint and finished in fifth place being the best Porsche car. For Sunday, we further improved the car and moved up to fourth position. But just when I thought I was going to fight for podium we got taken out in the penultimate lap. This is how cruel racing can be sometimes. I am very disappointed, but still super proud of how AVIA W&S Motorsport worked throughout the weekend. We came back and showed that we have a top car in the championship."

Leo Pichler, Driver #32: "I was very much looking forward to my home race at the Red Bull Ring and it was nice to have so many supporters there. We did quite well in the first race and I had a lot of fun. Unfortunately things didn't go so well on Sunday, we got involved in a collision through no fault of our own before I could even take the wheel."

The next stop of the ADAC GT4 Germany is in the Netherlands. From 24 to 26 June, the series will visit the CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, the legendary race track in the North Sea dunes.