Strong showing in BMW M6 GT3 goes unrewarded: bad luck for Schubert Motorsport, António Félix da Costa and Jesse Krohn in Spielberg.

Spielberg (AT), 24th July 2016. Retirements in both races, through no fault of their own: a strong performance in the BMW M6 GT3 by BMW DTM driver António Félix da Costa (PT), BMW Motorsport Junior Jesse Krohn (FI) and the Schubert Motorsport team went unrewarded on the fourth race weekend in the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg (AT).

Félix da Costa made his GT debut as a guest driver in the Schubert Motorsport BMW M6 GT3. Together with Krohn, he delivered a convincing performance on both race days but their races ended early on both occasions.

Krohn posted the second-fastest time in qualifying on Saturday. However, due to a disqualification the car was not able to start on the front row. They had to start the race from the back of the grid. Krohn and Félix da Costa mounted a great challenge and clawed back more than 20 places to move up to ninth. The BMW M6 GT3 was hit by another car and damaged so badly that Félix da Costa had to aim for the pits and retired from the race.

On Sunday, the Portuguese driver claimed a great fourth place in his first GT qualifying session. He defended this position in the race until he was hit by a competitor, a collision that turned him off the track. Félix da Costa re-joined the field in seventh and moved up one place before handing the BMW M6 GT3 over to Krohn in sixth position. However, the not-at-fault collision had damaged the clutch. Shortly after taking over behind the wheel, Krohn had to park in the gravel trap due to clutch problems.

The fifth race weekend in the ADAC GT Masters takes place from 5th to 7th August at the Nürburgring (DE).

Torsten Schubert (Schubert Motorsport Team Principal): “It is a shame that we didn’t get the results we had hoped for this weekend. Jesse and António did really well to catch up on Saturday. We could have scored some points even though we started from the back. On Sunday, António performed very well in qualifying. The fact that this was his first weekend in the BMW M6 GT3 makes this performance all the more impressive. He was only eight hundredths of a second away from pole position. A place in the leading pack would have been possible in the race itself, and maybe even a podium finish. But sadly it was not to be and we were not rewarded for our hard work.”

António Félix da Costa: “First of all I want to say that it was a really nice experience to drive the BMW M6 GT3 for the first time. I had a great feeling in the car and I want to thank the team who really helped me to get up to speed fast, and also Jesse. On Sunday, we had a great result within reach. Qualifying went really well and during the race we were hanging on to the group at the front and in the middle of the fight. Unfortunately, then the driver behind lost control of the car – obviously due to a defect – and hit me, damaging our car. I stayed on track as we were still running in seventh, which would have been good points, but I could feel that the clutch slowly started to fail. And after I handed the car to Jesse, the clutch did not work anymore. I feel very sorry for the whole team because they worked very hard and it would have been nice to give them a result. I think a podium would have been possible as Jesse would have been really strong in the second stint. So I am disappointed now but at the same time I had a lot of fun.”

Jesse Krohn: “Unfortunately all we had this weekend was bad luck. There was nothing we could do. On Saturday we were hit when we were on course for points, on Sunday the clutch was damaged when our BMW M6 GT3 was hit again. It really is a shame. It was really good to share the cockpit with António. He is a really professional and quick driver. I really enjoyed to share the car with him.”