Milestone for the ADAC GT Masters: The series will start its 250th race at the Nürburgring this weekend (July 12th to 14th) as part of the ADAC Truck Grand Prix. The anniversary race in the Eifel will be a premiere: The ADAC GT Masters debuts this weekend with a new format consisting of an endurance race on Saturday and a sprint race on Sunday. The new race format also means that the battle for the top of the standings between leaders Tom Kalender (Hamm/Sieg) and defending champion Elias Seppänen (FIN/ both Landgraf Motorsport) in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and their closest pursuers Leon Köhler (Erlenbach am Main) /Maxime Oosten (NL, both FK Performance) in the BMW M4 GT3 will enter the next round. Sport1 will broadcast both races on Saturday from 14:45 and on Sunday from 15:00. 

The ADAC GT Masters is now also celebrating an anniversary at the place where it all began in 2007: the Nürburgring. Back then, Christopher Haase and Italian Gianni Morbidelli crossed the finish line as the first ADAC GT Masters winners in a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 during the 24-hour race. The series is now in its 18th season, making it the longest-running GT3 racing series in the world. On the anniversary weekend, the championship will kick off with a new format: Saturday's race will be the first time that the drivers will take part in an endurance race lasting 80 minutes. 
minutes of racing. Teamwork and good tactics are particularly important here, because compared to the tried-and-tested format, two pit stops are mandatory, one of which involves a tire change. Action is also guaranteed in the 250th race on Sunday. In the 40-minute sprint, the drivers will have to step up the pace once again, as they will have less time to fight for position.

In the battle for the championship, two-time season winners Seppänen/Kalender are currently in the lead with 84 points in their Mercedes-AMG GT3. The BMW M4 GT3 of two-time winners Oosten/Köhler is just seven points behind. "With our victory in Sunday's race at Zandvoort, we have put ourselves in a good starting position. We want to attack again at the Nürburgring and try to take the lead," says Köhler. Third-placed Jannes Fittje (Langenargen) and Finn Wiebelhaus (Obertshausen/both Haupt Racing Team) in another Mercedes-AMG GT3 also remain within striking distance with 57 championship points.

At the anniversary weekend in the Eifel, guest entrants will complement the seven-make field: the two Mercedes-AMG GT3s from Schnitzelalm Racing and a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo from Team HP Racing International will join three other cars in the field. Julian Hanses and Marcel Marchewicz as well as Jay Mo Härtling and Moritz Wiskirchen will line up for the Mercedes-AMG team from Bad Hindelang. The Italian bull will be driven by Coach McKansy and 
Gerhard Tweraser take a seat.