GT MASTERS

"I am simply speechless. That was really not for the faint-hearted - I congratulate our drivers and the whole team on this sensational achievement," said SSR Performance Managing Director Stefan Schlund after the double triumph.

After a first instructive test outing in Hockenheim in 2019, SSR Performance's first ever race start, the team contested its first full season in the Super Sports Car League this year with a Porsche 911 GT3 R. Two "911" veterans were signed as drivers: Michael Ammermüller (34, Rotthalmünster) and Christian Engelhart (33, Starnberg). Their debut was a strong one: at the season opener at the Lausitzring, they secured their first podium finish with second place, followed two weeks later at the Nürburgring by their first pole position and their first victory. Ammermüller and Engelhart went one better at Hockenheim: victory number two and the lead in the overall standings for both drivers and teams for the first time. Since then, SSR Performance was always within striking distance of the top of the standings before the team finally took the lead in the points table on the final weekend after its third win of the season.

The team managers had not expected the season to be so successful. "We wanted to be competitive and establish ourselves," said Team Principal Wolfgang Hatz, who is regarded as the father of Porsche's successful LMP1 project and has a wealth of motorsport experience. "But we didn't think that we would be competing for the championship straight away. That was not foreseeable. After all, the ADAC GT Masters is probably the most competitive national GT3 series in the world with many professional teams, so it would be presumptuous to say that a newcomer without much experience will be right up there at the front." SSR Managing Director Stefan Schlund adds: "There was no direct target. But we had hoped that we could position ourselves between fifth and seventh place - which is already strong in the ADAC GT Masters."