Tenth position after another fine comeback for HB Racing's Ferrari 488 GT3 at the hands of Sebastian Asch and Luca Ludwig at the end of the first ADAC GT Masters race held today on the Spielberg circuit in Austria.
Bunched start. Having started eighteenth after another tricky qualifying round, in the early stages of the race the Ferrari of Asch battled within a tight group, with very contained breakaways. The difference in power between the HB Racing car and those of adversaries made it impossible for the red car to attack those who preceded, forcing the expert Asch to take maximum advantage of the 488 GT3’s handling to try and chase down rivals. Shortly before the clock struck the race’s halfway point, Sebastian Asch handed over the car, in sixteenth spot, to Luca Ludwig. The German driver came back out on track in twenty-second position but, once the mandatory stops had been completed by all crews, the Ferrari of the Austrian team occupied thirteenth position, jostling with a group of four cars bunched in a group one second apart.
Tussle with Martin. Ludwig got into a fine spar for the position with Martin's Aston Martin, forcing the Belgian out over the track limits on several occasions before receiving the official call from race authorities signalling a drive-through. The duel between the two negatively influenced the race pace to the point that Frank Stippler, initially lagging behind the two, found himself in Ludwig’s slipstream and began vying for the spot, which in the meantime, had become tenth outright position. However, HB Racing team were able to fend off the rival fairly effortlessly, and went on to cross the finish line in the top ten, after another great comeback.
Programme. Tomorrow at 08:30 hrs the qualification session gets underway which will determine the grid for the race, set to start at 13:05.