W&S Motorsport wins both GT4 European Series races at the Hockenheimring

Summer temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius made for extreme conditions and were a challenge for man and machine. The racing team from Ofterdingen did not let this slow them down and made a perfect start to the fourth race weekend of the GT4 racing series. In both qualifying sessions on Saturday, drivers from W&S Motorsport were the fastest in the Pro-Am class and secured pole position. In the first race, Tano Neumann and Alon Gabbay started from first place. The following day, it was Max Kronberg and Finn Zulauf who secured an additional point for first position on the grid.

Neumann and Gabbay contested their first race together in the GT4 European Series and had a strong pace. After 30 laps, they crossed the finish line first on Saturday and took their first victory in the Pro-Am class, which is also their biggest success in their motorsport career to date. They finished tenth in the second race.

Kronberg and Zulauf topped their result after finishing fifth in race 1 and battled for first place on Sunday in a heated race. In the end, they were happy with their third win of the season and made up some ground in the championship.

Nilsson and Hellsten achieved a good result on Saturday with eighth place in only their second weekend in the racing series and a faultless run on Sunday saw the two Swedes take their first podium in the Pro-Am class with second place.

In the Pro-Am team championship, W&S Motorsport lead the standings with 134 points. Max Kronberg and Finn Zulauf are in second place in the drivers’ championship, just one point behind the leaders. The penultimate weekend of the GT4 European Series will take place in Monza from 20 to 22 September.

Quotes after the race

Daniel Schellhaas, Team Principal W&S Motorsport: “It wasn’t an easy weekend in Hockenheim. You don’t often encounter temperatures of over 30 degrees there. We worked hard throughout the weekend and kept a cool head. The temperatures did not favour the Porsche. Not only did we win both races, but each of our three cars finished on the podium. A remarkable performance from the whole team, but we must also analyse the fluctuations in the individual results in the other races and come to Monza even stronger in order to take an important step towards the championship. The co-operation with Nova Racing is a lot of fun and the second place shows a steep learning curve.”

Finn Zulauf, Driver #30: “I am very happy about the win in Hockenheim! The heat didn’t make it easy for us, but we gave everything we had to keep up with the championship. Max drove superbly and took pole position for the fourth time. The car was perfectly prepared and the team did a great job. Many thanks to everyone! We won’t rest on our laurels, but will continue to work hard to score as many points as possible in the next races.”

Alon Gabbay, Driver #31: “It was one of the best weekends I had so far! Pole position in qualifying, winning the class and finishing in the top 10 overall in race 1. I am very happy about the weekend in Hockenheim. It wasn’t easy, but I gained a lot of experience in this weekend. Thanks to my team for the best job, my teammate Tano and my coach Marvin. We keep on pushing and working hard to have another good weekend at the Nürburgring with ADAC GT4 Germany, I am looking forward to it!”

Edvin Hellsten, Driver #27: “It is fantastic to claim our first podium in the second race at Hockenheim, it was such a blast! The car felt amazing, and we had the speed to race at the front. We had some great overtaking manoeuvres, and without penalties we moved well up the field. It was really fun to race! We will reload during the summer break and prepare for Monza to keep up the momentum.”