ADAC Masters Weekend, GP Weingarten
ADAC GT Masters
Hockenheimring
September 30th - October 2nd, 2011
The warm and sunny autumn weather did credit to the final races of the ADAC GT Masters season at the Hockenheimring in Baden attracting 33,200 spectators.

24-year old Christopher Haase from Kulmbach let his partner, Swede Andreas Simonsen, drive most of the free practice sessions on Friday. He steered the Audi R8 LMS (Phoenix Racing Pole Promotion) into the gravel and collected a lot of stones in the engine compartment in the second free practice session. Valuable time was spent on cleaning and the effects were felt in the qualifying session. Simonsen who was responsible for the start position in race 1 on Saturday said that he had no problems handling the car. However he only reached P29. Unlike him, Haase reached P14 for the second race on Sunday. “The car was fine. However, I did not have enough reference times from the practice sessions and was not able to make ideal use of the new tyres”, says Haase.

The first race was quickly finished for the Phoenix-Audi with Haase/ Simonsen in the cockpit. Haase was only an onlooker and played no part in the race. Simonsen started in the first race on Saturday. He fought hard and moved up into P21. However, he was forced to retire early when a competitor missed the braking point in the hairpin and crashed into the Swede’s rear. Since the damages at the rear of the car were severe it was uncertain whether they would be able to start in the race on Sunday. The Phoenix crew spent long hours until late into the night repairing the Audi R8.

Haase started in race 2 on Sunday. “I managed to defend my position but was not able to gain momentum”, says Haase. Vibrations on the front suspension gave the GT pilot a hard time during the race. With two competitors pushing from behind Haase was not able to keep up with the field in front of him. “I had to push hard and as a result the tyres suffered a lot,” Haase continues “the vibrations became worse and worse. Somehow we were too slow on the straight”. Hardly able to compete, Haase managed to defend P7 until the mandatory pit stop. Simonsen also faced tremendous problems defending his position. Due to difficult duels and losing places the Swede only reached P13.

Christopher Haase: “This is a disappointing end of the season. We definitely have the potential but there were simply too many obstacles“.