Following disappointment at Paul RicardTeam keeps second place in championship rankingOutstanding performances by all drivers in the three Mercedes-AMG GT3

The AMG-Team HTP Motorsport showed an outstanding performance at the third round of the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup at the Nürburgring. After some bad luck in the qualifying race, the three Mercedes-AMG GT3 fought their way up the field. The #86 of Jules Szymkowiak and Bernd Schneider celebrated a great podium with third place.

Only one week after the 1000km Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in Paul Ricard, the team got its former strength back. At the preparation race for the Total 24 Hours of Spa, the team suffered a disappointing setback and retired in the race.

The team headed into the qualification race on Saturday even more motivated. Maximilian Buhk (GER) and Dominik Baumann (A) underlined the team´s potential with third place in qualifying. Despite a difficult session for the sister cars #85 and #86 (26th and 25th position) all drivers showed great performances during the one-hour quali-race on Saturday. Jules Szymkowiak (NDL) and Bernd Schneider (GER) (#86 Mercedes-AMG GT3) raced from P24 on the grid to an excellent eighth position, making up good work for the race on Sunday. Baumann and Buhk (#84 Mercedes-AMG GT3) managed to finish in P11 after their off on the second lap. The #85 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Clemens Schmid (A) and Jazeman Jafaar (MAL) came home in 15th place after starting from P27.

Due to a well thought-through strategy, the driver pairing Szymkowiak/Schneider stormed to a podium finishing in third place, after they had previously won at Brands Hatch. The sister cars finished in sixth place (#84) and 23rd (#85).

„The race in Paul Ricard was of course a disappointment for us, but we were able to return to old strength at the Nürburgring, demonstrating a good performance by everyone in the team“, says Norbert Brückner, Team Principal AMG-Team HTP Motorsport. „We are now focussing on the Total 24 Hours of Spa, which will be one of the highlight races this season.“

The AMG-Team HTP Motorsport is currently Runner-up in both the team and the drivers’ standings. For more information, please visit http://htp-motorsport.de. Images are available do download at HTP Download.

Driver Quotes:

Maximilian Buhk (#84 Mercedes-AMG):

"It was a difficult weekend for us, but the team did a great job and thanks to a good strategy we were able to attack to the front runners. The next race is now Spa and I am very much looking forward to that."

Jules Szymkowiak ((#86 Mercedes-AMG):"We were really happy with third place, especially since it did not look like that after the disappointing qualifying. We were able to make up a lot of positions in the Quali-race, which was important for the race on Sunday. The race on Sunday was a lot of fun and I was able to attack right from the start."

Bernd Schneider (#86 Mercedes-AMG):"After the disappointing qualifying I would have never thought we could end-up on the podium, especially since overtaking at this track is difficult. But we found a great Set-up and the team did a great job at the pit-stops, which allowed us to gain some positions."

Dominik Baumann (#84 Mercedes-AMG):"The main race at the Nürburgring was a really tough one. We were able to come from P10 to finish in sixth place and we were close of a Top-5 finish. We are now second in the championship and nothing is lost."

Clemens Schmid (#85 Mercedes-AMG):"After the poor qualifying, my team-mate and I had a good quali race on Saturday. But a 15th place was still not what we had hoped for, but we made the most out of the situation.2

Jazeman Jafaar (#85 Mercedes-AMG):"After the difficult weekend we had in Paul Ricard, it was great to show such a comeback at Nürburgring. All in all, I am happy with the result, but now we are focussing on the 24 hours of Spa.2