– Sandro Holzem (Schubert Motorsport) secured the first best time of the 2026 season in the ADAC GT Masters. At the official test day on Wednesday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg (Austria), the BMW driver drove to the top of the field in 1:29.631 minutes.
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“We noticed from the start that the car’s base was right. So we only adjusted a few small things and tried a few things out,” explains Sandro Holzem, who feels well prepared for the season opener from April 24 to 26 at the same location: “We have the package and know that we are both fast enough. We will give everything to win the championship in the end.”
Teammate and twin brother Juliano Holzem set the second fastest time of the morning, although the duo only left the box later after conversion work on the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
The day at the Red Bull Ring was consistently cloudy. After nighttime rain, the track steadily dried over the morning, but the track temperature did not rise above 14.5 degrees Celsius. Behind Holzem, rookie Colin Bönighausen (Razoon – more than Racing) was second with a gap of 0.103 seconds.
Bönighausen’s teammate Leo Pichler had already set the fastest time of the morning with the Porsche 911 GT3 R. “We made the most of the half-dry, half-wet conditions in the morning to get a good feeling. After all, we know from last season that such conditions are not unlikely during the race weekend,” explains Pichler. The duo was also the busiest of the day with 181 completed laps.
The top 3 were completed by Pichler’s Austrian compatriot Kiano Blum (Haupt Racing Team) in the Ford Mustang GT3. The rookie was 0.194 seconds behind the leader. In fourth place was Leyton Fourie (FK Performance Motorsport), the second BMW. The top 5 was completed by Emil Gjerdrum (Haupt Racing Team) in another Ford.
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With 170 laps, newcomer Comtoyou Racing also showed great commitment. Jamie Day/Baudouin Detout used the wet conditions of the morning in their Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and then focused on several long runs and qualifying simulations.
“We worked on the car’s setup and the day went really well,” describes rookie Detout and adds: “Right now, no one knows what the other is doing and we can hardly wait to finally see where we really stand in qualifying.”
HGL Racing, on the other hand, refrained from running in the wet. The Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of the second newcomer team was significantly revised again after the winter test drives and was not to be exposed to any risk on the wet track in the morning. Nevertheless, the team completed all planned tasks and Simon Connor Primm feels well prepared for the season opener.
“We have built a good base. Of course, a few screws still need to be turned, then it will move forward a bit more, but so far we were able to run through our program smoothly. We had no problems with the low temperatures. I would even wish it to be similar at the first race weekend,” says Primm.
Tickets for the ADAC GT Masters season opener from April 24 to 26 at the Red Bull Ring as part of the DTM are available from 49 euros. All fans who want to follow the Austria event at home can look forward to live coverage on free TV on Sport1 as well as all races streamed on Sport1.de, Joyn, ServusTV On, and on the ADAC Motorsports YouTube channel.
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